Roz Fazli; Mohsen Aliheidary
Abstract
After coronavirus pandemic in the early months of 2020 in the world, Alain Badiou, French Marxist philosopher, tried to analyze the issue on behalf of the government in an article. He declared that the bourgeoisie state must pay attention to more general interests at the same time it takes care of the ...
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After coronavirus pandemic in the early months of 2020 in the world, Alain Badiou, French Marxist philosopher, tried to analyze the issue on behalf of the government in an article. He declared that the bourgeoisie state must pay attention to more general interests at the same time it takes care of the interests belonging to its class. He defined the situation as a confrontation with a public enemy. The realistic efforts of Alain Badiou as an idealistic philosopher in understanding the French state was unexpected for all his colleagues and critics. This article tries to explain how the coronavirus pandemic is neither a philosophical nor a metaphysical situation through the criticisms of Alain Badiou's recent stance in the epidemic situation, and why Badiou's recommendations to Emmanuel Macron administration do not meant to justify ineffectiveness of Neoliberal policies confronting with the coronavirus pandemic. In order to find the answer, we try to define Badiou's philosophical approach and understand its relation to the concept of "event" as the central concept in his philosophical discourse and it goes on to examine how the Corona pandemic situation is not a philosophical event or situation, and that Allen Badiou's political stance against Macron's government in the current context, despite his conservative form, is further understood in his radical philosophy. Finally, the proposal of this political philosopher - moving towards a model similar to the welfare state - with the economic foundation and political model of the current hegemony in the capitalist world, is considered as a possible solution in the face of the corona situation.
Behrooz Sedghi shamir
Abstract
Khawaja Nasir and his contemporary, Thomas Aquinas, are two prominent philosophers and theologians belonging to Abrahamic religions (Islam and Christianity). Considered as rationalistic and proactive, both scholars discussed religion and state in their works. The question arises as to whether they view ...
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Khawaja Nasir and his contemporary, Thomas Aquinas, are two prominent philosophers and theologians belonging to Abrahamic religions (Islam and Christianity). Considered as rationalistic and proactive, both scholars discussed religion and state in their works. The question arises as to whether they view the formation and administration of state as an exclusively religious–divine issue or a natural one related to the civil nature of mankind. Using a descriptive–analytical method, this paper tries to analyze Khawaja Nasir’s and Aquinas’ viewpoints in order to answer the above question. The data shows that both Aquinas and Khawaja Nasir consider the legitimacy of state as a matter of nature conditional on justice and wisdom regardless of whether state is divine or conventional. For Khawaja Nasir, the administration of Utopia is not limited to the prophets and imams—who are distinguished by divine inspiration—but the scholars who are distinguished by the power of reason are also entitled to the administration of Utopia. According to Thomas Aquinas, any government that acts justly and rationally is in the public interest and in line with human nature, so it must be obeyed.
Seyed Jalalaldin Faraji
Abstract
Today, the rapid growth of cities and massive migrations towards them has resulted in wide cultural diversity in urban environments, and this issue has made the local governments who are responsible for the management of cities face a serious problem, that is why the management a city in big cities will ...
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Today, the rapid growth of cities and massive migrations towards them has resulted in wide cultural diversity in urban environments, and this issue has made the local governments who are responsible for the management of cities face a serious problem, that is why the management a city in big cities will no longer be able to achieve success with the traditional and usual methods of the past in providing one-way services. For this reason, management science theorists believe that management theories and paradigms should be used to manage cities as best as possible, one of which is quantum management.The general purpose of the current research is to investigate the causal relationships between the variables of quantum management and the components of smart governance of urban culture, so the research is applied in terms of its purpose and descriptive in terms of the method of data collection. To achieve this goal, two methods of thematic analysis and fuzzy Delphi have been used. The practical tool for data collection was a structured and semi-structured questionnaire, and data analysis using the fuzzy Delphi method showed that among the seven skills of quantum management, quantum feeling has the least effect, while quantum existence and quantum action have the highest effect. It has an impact on the smart governance of urban culture in the management of local governments.Research MethodologySince the purpose of the research is to investigate the role of quantum management in moving towards the smart governance of urban culture; therefore, the research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of gathering information of the survey type. In the meantime, library and field methods have been used together to collect data. It is based on the field method of structured interviews and the selection of scientific and executive experts has been done using the snowball method. This method is especially used when it is difficult for the researcher to know the right people (Benis, 2004). Based on this, 16 experts were selected for interview. In this way, 9 university professors and 7 executive experts active in the field of culture and urban management were interviewed. The interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached. In fact, no new material was recorded from the 13th interview onwards, but for more certainty, three more interviews were conducted to saturate the theory. From the point of view of data analysis, thematic analysis and fuzzy Delphi method have been used. In this way, the primary data was collected and organized using thematic analysis method, and in the next step, the data was evaluated using the fuzzy Delphi method. The fuzzy Delphi method was invented by Kaufman and Gupta in the 1980s (Cheng and Lin quoted by Jafari and Montazer, 2016). The application of this method in order to make decisions and reach consensus on issues where the goals and parameters are not clearly defined, leads to very valuable results. One of the biggest advantages of the fuzzy Delphi technique compared to the traditional Delphi technique for screening indicators is that one step can be used to summarize and screen the variables (Habibi et al., quoted by Rahdari and Nasr, 2016).ConclusionIn general, in this article, using thematic analysis and fuzzy Delphi method, and using the views of selected experts, the influence of quantum management indicators on the components of smart governance of urban culture was discussed, and finally, according to the results obtained from Among the 28 proposed indicators, 15 have had a great impact on the smart governance components of urban culture, which have received a de-fuzzified average tolerance threshold higher than 0.7, and they are:The effect of quantum operation on electronic democracyThe impact of quantum action on CI strategyThe effect of quantum presence on behavioral skillsThe effect of quantum presence on CI consciousnessThe effect of quantum existence on electronic democracyThe impact of quantum thinking on CI strategyThe effect of quantum view on the knowledge of cultural intelligenceEffect of quantum gaze on CI behavioral skillsThe effect of quantum trust on the knowledge of cultural intelligenceImpact of quantum trust on CI strategyImpact of quantum trust on public expenditure on ICT premisesand expansion of ICT and online public services and website accessThe effect of quantum thinking on the development of ICTThe effect of quantum cognition on CI consciousnessThe effect of quantum cognition on CI strategyThe effect of quantum cognition on the knowledge of cultural intelligence According to the findings, it has been concluded that among the seven quantum management skills of managers, the quantum feeling skill has less impact on the intelligent governance of urban culture in multicultural cities than the other 6 skills. This is despite the fact that quantum existence and quantum action had the highest impact on the intelligent governance of urban culture. Therefore, the growth and development of any city affected by the view of city managers with a quantum approach can lead to many developments in the field of smartening cities and moving towards smart governance of urban culture in local governments.
Hamid Sajadi
Abstract
A great volume of studies and researches are conducted for evaluating Iran's five-year development plans, with the main purpose of overcoming obstacles and realizing the goals of national strategic plans. Considering the large volume of studies on evaluation of development plans, on the one hand, and ...
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A great volume of studies and researches are conducted for evaluating Iran's five-year development plans, with the main purpose of overcoming obstacles and realizing the goals of national strategic plans. Considering the large volume of studies on evaluation of development plans, on the one hand, and the inconsistencies and contradictions of the findings on the other hand, the method of meta-synthesis is adopted by the researcher as an efficient method for systematically summarizing and analyzing the wide range of results. For this purpose, published and unpublished qualitative literature in the context of development programs, dated between 1992 and 2015, were selected. Having reviewed the full-text of these articles, reports and texts, the ones which accurately examined the weaknesses as well as the facilitators of national development programs were chosen and compared with each other. The data were first analyzed via adopting thematic analysis approach and then were reanalyzed through encoding method. The results of the analysis of obstacles against development programs were extracted and interpreted within thirteen themes and five codes of facilitators, namely, convergence and integration of higher education with social system while linking knowledge and industry, promoting balanced development, limiting government in the development process, strengthening social system as the context of development and expansion of international interactions. The findings ultimately suggest the necessity of promoting development through a dynamic systemic approach.
reza soleimani
Abstract
The political analysis of contemporary Iran indicates that cognition of history of Governmentality transition (rational mentality of the State), has serious impact on mentality of social forces towards government. Iranian constitutional revolution had created first doubts about monarchical state and ...
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The political analysis of contemporary Iran indicates that cognition of history of Governmentality transition (rational mentality of the State), has serious impact on mentality of social forces towards government. Iranian constitutional revolution had created first doubts about monarchical state and took traditional images about it under question. However, social and political disorders and anarchies at the period of post-constitutional revolution, reformed “governance crisis”, bounded will of transition in governmental rationality and moving to new governmental rationality. This new governmental rationality, reinforced situation for reappearance of totalitarian structure in Reza Shah discipline. Consequently, a new mentalities of monarchy had been affected clergy image and convinced them to adhere sympathetically for revival of absolute government as well as their sympathy for liberty and law in the years of constitutional revolution. Therefore, Iran social and political changes could be modeled in Graph of Sine which is full of willingness to change or acceptance of the authoritarian state. Main question of the article is that: what evolutions clergy mentality has experienced toward Monarchy, as the legitimate state, at the period of post-constitutional revolution? The main hypothesis, in the framework of Foucault concept of “Govern mentality”, is that clergy mentality of Monarchy legitimacy has been experienced three phases: adherence, criticism, and finally opposition. Accordingly, main goal of the article is to discover transition of clergy mentality of Monarchy, from post-constitutional revolution to Islamic Revolution.
Mehdi Nasr
Abstract
Nowadays, 'justice' has almost become a forgotten concept. Global inequalities as a received contemporary neoliberal order is taken for granted. As a political concept, 'State', however, has a better situation. Using genealogy as a method, this article tries to show the concomitance of these two concepts ...
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Nowadays, 'justice' has almost become a forgotten concept. Global inequalities as a received contemporary neoliberal order is taken for granted. As a political concept, 'State', however, has a better situation. Using genealogy as a method, this article tries to show the concomitance of these two concepts in their origin. The classical principles of justice, namely political freedom and the principles of distributive justice as well as respect for equality of the nature are the existing principles in thinking of state, both the ancient and the modern ones. In its origin, state presupposes the principles of justice to engender political identity of human being. This is beyond a moral preaching. Relativism, however, is going to be criticized. Instead, it emphasizes on the common origin and source of these two political concepts. Of course our narration of political situations is different from the modern subjectivist ones. So we try to separate and distinguish justice and state from subjectivist concepts, the very concepts which have been criticized very much. Instead, we try to prove that even with the presuppositions of those philosophies critical of modernity also the principles of justice and state remain in their place and we should vindicate them in the contemporary political spheres.
Majid Rouhi Dehboneh
Abstract
Middle East, especially the Arab world since 2011 has been a great deal of transformation. The changes that the "Arab Spring" or "Islamic Awakening" is mentioned rather than to build new state to build the foundations of a regional order, lead by the arrival of variables and factors such as entry Takfiri- ...
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Middle East, especially the Arab world since 2011 has been a great deal of transformation. The changes that the "Arab Spring" or "Islamic Awakening" is mentioned rather than to build new state to build the foundations of a regional order, lead by the arrival of variables and factors such as entry Takfiri- Terrorist groups, dynamics ethnic Kurds, Turkey's quest game in the Middle East, Saudi efforts to change the balance of power, the Obama doctrine and global and regional challenges faced by the recent wave of crisis and instability that is unprecedented in its kind Course of events shows that the Middle East after the Islamic Awakening of the confusion among the various levels (local, regional and international) suffers. That much of this confusion is the question of the state and national state crisis. Accordingly, this article seeks to theoretical explanation of why this confusion and instability in the Middle East after the changes in 2011. In this context using the approach of "regional security complex" and application analysis levels (local, regional and international) attention has systematically tried this approach turmoil, governments, regional dynamics, patterns of friendship and enmity, conflicts and power structure in the region explain and analyze
Parvaneh Salatin
Abstract
In recent decades, studies of the role of government in economy have had a shift from the concentration on the size of government and its tasks to the quality of government intervention. This change of attitude to state in economy has given rise to a new vision of good governance. Good governance requires ...
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In recent decades, studies of the role of government in economy have had a shift from the concentration on the size of government and its tasks to the quality of government intervention. This change of attitude to state in economy has given rise to a new vision of good governance. Good governance requires a broad approach to the transparent involvement of a wide range of groups including the government, civil society and private sector. In this respect, the quality of governance reflects the ability of governments to formulate and implement effective policies to improve business environment, economic development, and entrepreneurship expansion; therefore, the main purpose of this article is to find the answer to this important question: What is the impact of the quality of governance on entrepreneurship in selected countries? The present study is an applied research in terms of purpose and referential, in terms of research method, nature and the method of dealing with the problem. In this study, reference is made to the statistical data of the World Bank and the World Entrepreneurship Observer. Multivariate regression and panel data and Excel and Eviews soft wares have been used to model the factors affecting entrepreneurship. The results of fixed effects model estimation over the period 2000-2016 showed that governance quality has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurship in the selected countries. The effect of governance quality on entrepreneurship in the group of innovation-based selected countries with high income is higher than the group of efficiency-based ones with medium income. Creating effective institutions, governments can provide an environment suitable for regulating the economic relations of individuals in a low-cost manner. In this way, entrepreneurship can be reinforced and developed.
Ali Abbasi Shavazi
Abstract
It’s been almost 14 years from the time when Iran’s nuclear program was set forth in the international organs including IAEA and the United Nations Security Council and it is one of the most important internal problems for Iran and international environment. The main question of this essay ...
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It’s been almost 14 years from the time when Iran’s nuclear program was set forth in the international organs including IAEA and the United Nations Security Council and it is one of the most important internal problems for Iran and international environment. The main question of this essay is the impact of the nuclear developments on the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. To answer this question from the theoretical viewpoint the realist approach to security was used in order to find the parameters of security and to provide the parameters of national security as well. Besides the SWOT method was used to analyze the data and the TOPSIS method was used too. On the basis of the SWOT method we studied the impact of the nuclear developments on the security by surveying four tests of internal points of strength and weakness and international opportunities and threats. Therefore the hypothesis of the present research is that there is a significant relationship between the points of weaknesses and the threats of Iran’s nuclear developments and the decrease of the level of national security. In the end on the basis of the hypothesis of the present research if the Islamic Republic of Iran reduces the internal points of weaknesses and encounters the international threats in the nuclear case in a correct and reasonable way it will be able to improve its security or on the contrary through lack of efficiency in these areas the country’s security would be endangered. The present research is done by using Delphi technique on the basis of completing a questionnaire by 36 persons of experts and elites of International Relations and nuclear negotiations.
Shayan Karami
Abstract
This paper intends to analyze the consequences of the distribution of natural resources (land and water) in the political and social structure, to present rent management theory as an alternative approach to explaining some of the historical events and the political and social issues of Iran. The main ...
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This paper intends to analyze the consequences of the distribution of natural resources (land and water) in the political and social structure, to present rent management theory as an alternative approach to explaining some of the historical events and the political and social issues of Iran. The main issue of the paper is the explanation of the consequences of the distribution of the natural resources in Iran during the Qajar period. The data was collected from the National Documents Archives and other library resources, and by historical method, the rent analysis was analyzed. The findings show that, in Iran's economic history, the government is placed as the largest distributor of natural resources (land and water) on the supply side, and society (capital and labor) is placed as the largest consumer, on the demand side. The structure of political and social institutions, based on the model of the implementation of social justice, in the distribution of natural resources, monolithically consolidates. This pattern has been one of the main factors behind the creation of rents and the establishment of rents management institution in the government. During the Qajar period, Thiol, conversion, the difference in prices and the salaries and wages of the princes, have been the most important channels for the distribution of rents, split from the rent government agency. These canals were blocked after the Constitutional Revolution, with the decisive action of the first parliament. The state rent agency was one of the main factors in the ineffectiveness of the tax system, the continued decline in government revenue, and the prevalence of bribes and corruption. The ultimate goal of distributing rents has been the exemption from tax payments. Other important consequences of rents include the transfer of major economic privileges and the occurrence of a constitutional revolution.
Seyedeh Fahimeh Ebrahimi
Abstract
In Transoxiana political and social history in the Islamic period, there are moments of collision between the primitive and present biospheres, one of the most recent of which is the rise of the Uzbek nomadic rule and their extensive migration to the Iranian world and finally the formation of political ...
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In Transoxiana political and social history in the Islamic period, there are moments of collision between the primitive and present biospheres, one of the most recent of which is the rise of the Uzbek nomadic rule and their extensive migration to the Iranian world and finally the formation of political structure and dual office (tribal-urban). In the present paper, using Weber's sociological approach (traditional authority theory), which depicts the evolution of power and domination in traditional societies, we traced the periods of Uzbek political rule, up to the 13th / 19th century with the ambiguity of "What are the Uzbek nomads like?" "Have they experienced traditional authority and sovereignty in the evolution of their political life?" We claim that “the traditional Uzbek authority, due to the hybrid social system (urban and primitive) and the predominance of the tribal structure, is in constant challenge and tension between different species, simultaneously experiences a multi-layered structure (from gerontocratic, patriarchal and patrimonial authority), and finally, with the rise of the last dynasty of this race (Menghites), for some reason, its patrimonial layer is established." The result of the research completes the above claim in such a way that the extended patrimonial authority of Menghiti approaches sultanism (which is a kind of patrimonial domination) due to the dictatorship of the emirs of this dynasty in the process of establishing their political authority.
Mohsen Dianat
Abstract
One of the most important issues in political sociology, Diaspora and its functions is to strengthen ethnic nationalism in plural societies.Kurdish uprising in Kurdish nationalism and identity conflict has mutual relation with Diaspora. Indeed, this paper examines and shows deep relationship between ...
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One of the most important issues in political sociology, Diaspora and its functions is to strengthen ethnic nationalism in plural societies.Kurdish uprising in Kurdish nationalism and identity conflict has mutual relation with Diaspora. Indeed, this paper examines and shows deep relationship between Diaspora, nationalism and conflict in Kurdish field by way of analytic method. Diaspora community as a strategic Agent is the harbinger of nationalist movement and the creator of the strategic status for creating national discourses. The opportunities structure and the emergence of kurd elites in the Diaspora as the main Agent for conflict and nationalism plays a key role in contemporary Middle East. The research method is analytic-descriptive, and data gathering procedure is based on library findings. The elite diaspora in western societies has an impact on conflicts and seeks to brand identity and nationalism and geopolitical identity of Kurdistan as a distinct geographical unit.
Hamidreza Rahmanizadeh Dehkordi
Abstract
Purpose: The relationship between cyberspace and democracy has been one of the most controversial issues during the last two decades. The main question particularly lies in the fact whether cyberspace can restrict the authoritarian state. The study aims, in the first step, to examine the arguments for ...
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Purpose: The relationship between cyberspace and democracy has been one of the most controversial issues during the last two decades. The main question particularly lies in the fact whether cyberspace can restrict the authoritarian state. The study aims, in the first step, to examine the arguments for and against some basic concepts which are related to the question of the study and those debates including “virtual civil society”, “virtual public sphere”, “state accountability” and “creating some spaces for resistance”. Then, Non-Democratic Sides of Cyberspace were examined and it was revealed that they are not related to cyberspace per se. These features arise from political, social and economic structures; but cyberspace can represent them, at the best. In other words, internet should be looked at as a tool or a medium, not as a goal per se. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this article, the main arguments for and against the democratic sides of cyberspace were examined and some evidence was given for each. Then, it was indicated that all of them are a part of truth. To understand the concrete reality on cyberspace we should refer to context (social, economic structures) which is known as structural approach. Findings: Our thesis can be summed up by one typical statement: "structures and actions determine the political and social system and internet and cyberspace can only act as a catalyst". No evidence could be found to show us that activity in cyberspace can make a great change in political, social relations and structures, on the contrary, there is clear-cut evidence that the state and social, economic institutions, have used this tool in promoting and achieving their goals. Originality/Value: The two different approaches toward cyberspace and its impact on promoting democracy process are not new. Our contribution to this process, in the first step, is to categorize and analyze them based on their reasons and evidence and more importantly, to show that these two approaches are Two sides of the same coin. To understand the democracy process and nature of the state, we should refer to the concrete context including social and economic structures and not to virtual tools.
Mojtaba Yavar
Abstract
Abstract Purpose: The interpretation of the political sphere in Pahlavi’s age, based on the nostalgia paradigm, is the scope and purpose of this paper. Nostalgia, as the fundamental situation of human mental life, can affect the political area by its own ideas, concepts and operation. In this paper, ...
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Abstract Purpose: The interpretation of the political sphere in Pahlavi’s age, based on the nostalgia paradigm, is the scope and purpose of this paper. Nostalgia, as the fundamental situation of human mental life, can affect the political area by its own ideas, concepts and operation. In this paper, focusing on the period of Pahlavi, We intend to show that legitimacy, which is one of the basic concepts related to the politics, had taken the nostalgic nature. Nostalgia paradigm, consciously and unconsciously, had become one of the established and dominant discourses in Pahlavi’s age. Nostalgia was the point of connection of culture and politics. Nostalgia paradigm was so pervasive that even the formation of theoretical ideas and thoughts of competing sides could be achieved and fulfilled in the same paradigm. The generality of Nostalgia not only included the official, governmental and nationalist discourse, but also the rival Islamist discourses (And some other discourses). Nostalgia paradigm in politics gained credibility and legitimacy for one (government side) and worked in order to delegitimize the existing political system for other (competing discourses). Design/Methodology/Approach: Combining the historical data with the adopted explanatory approach (interpretative-phenomenological approach), this article provides an analysis of the contemporary history of Iran. This combination seeks the means of nostalgia paradigm and uses Jacques Lacan’s psychological theory of the triple order (imaginary, symbolic and real order). Also, it explains the phenomena such as meaning, legitimacy and anti-legitimacy, identity and identification, self and other, and finally, presence and absence. Findings: The problem of this paper is to analyze the relationship between nostalgia and political credibility (legitimation) and finding the answer to these questions: how nostalgia is political? Or, what the appearance of nostalgic acts at the political level and in the realm of politics means? There is a familiar and well-known response to these questions: legitimacy. But, the specific findings of this paper can be formulated as follows: Nostalgia is one of the most dominant paradigms of the intellectual, cultural, political and social life of Iranians in the 20th century; it can be claimed that the political realm became the playing field of various nostalgias. In short, nostalgia was the source of access to legitimacy and also delegitimizing. Originality/Value: (a) Using a theoretical and methodological approach to review politics and political culture in the Pahlavi period. (b) Exploring the nostalgia as the dominant paradigm in the cultural, social and political space. (c) Exploring the political dimension of nostalgia in that period. (d) Exploring the dual Operation of nostalgic paradigm in the course of Iranian history and politics in the 20th century (not only in the discourse of ancient-oriented nationalism, but also in Islamic nationalism).
Mahdi Khaghani Esfahani
Abstract
Historical challenging period of political authoritarianism in Iran has affected the criminal policy’s ineffectiveness. Public law and especially criminal policy in its both sources - Shiite jurisprudence and western legal thought - has experienced numerous challenges due to the lack of an active ...
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Historical challenging period of political authoritarianism in Iran has affected the criminal policy’s ineffectiveness. Public law and especially criminal policy in its both sources - Shiite jurisprudence and western legal thought - has experienced numerous challenges due to the lack of an active and continuous communication between those resources, and also due to the divergence of a broad range of formal and informal norms. Two other flaws in the traditional Islamic criminal policy are the lack of enough attention to Iranian criminal sociology, and the lack of consistency with contemporary collective wisdom. But the most important problem of the current criminal policy is the unavailability and lack of attention to the need for interdisciplinary teaching and neglecting the role of philosophical, sociological, and especially managerial aspects of criminal policy. Suffice to Fiqhi method is sign of limitation in this traditional flow. Scholars support this process, try to introduce the Islamic criminal policy with just Fatwa method; meanwhile criminal policy is not an arbitration-oriented science, and is a constructive paradigm-based science. This article, after criticizing the level, extent and state of presenting Fiqh in contemporary Iranian criminal policy, points to the capacity of other interpretations of Islam (such as Maqasidi Fiqh) in planning the local criminal policy pattern; and it also shows some commons of Islamic rationality and Western rationality in designing this local theory. Under the hypothesis of this article, the most important factor limiting the freedom and inadmissible resorting to violence in soft layers of subjective and objective approaches to criminal policy, including: theoretical foundations weakness, weak social base to believe in culture of participation in the public sphere, the lack of serious commitment to codify Islamic-Iranian model of progress.
Maghsood Ranjbar
Abstract
The perception and expression of state is the most important element in political thought. It is impossible to have a democratic system without a theoretical perception of state. Due to the fact that there are many different theories concerning state, the principal question of this research ...
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The perception and expression of state is the most important element in political thought. It is impossible to have a democratic system without a theoretical perception of state. Due to the fact that there are many different theories concerning state, the principal question of this research is as: within which of the theories of state does the state considered by the Islamic fundamentalists lie or to which of them is nearer? In this research, our assumption is that the theory of state from an Islamic fundamentalism point of view has more proximities to the theory of absolute state. In other words, in many features, the perception of the Islamic fundamentalists of state is near to the features of the theory of absolute state. In order to survey this subject matter, we have used a descriptive, analytical and comparative method. In this essay, the features of the Islamic fundamentalism approach to state have been surveyed with the help of the theory of absolute state based on such criteria as the kind of perception of authority, the bases of authority and its legitimacy, the expediency of state, the divine right of ruling, the base and realm of ownership, the concept and realm of the law and legislation and the goals of state and its realm. In the end, the relation of these findings and perceptions with the modern state has been studied, since the modern state has been the most important form of a democratic state.
Mahdi Abbasi Shahkooh
Abstract
This article, using the method of historical sociology and the sociology of knowledge, attempts to address the power relations between society and government in Iran before the emergence of the Pahlavi state. Powerful social masters such as the royal family and their relatives, clergies, landowners, ...
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This article, using the method of historical sociology and the sociology of knowledge, attempts to address the power relations between society and government in Iran before the emergence of the Pahlavi state. Powerful social masters such as the royal family and their relatives, clergies, landowners, merchants and marketers, and ultimately local rulers and head of tribes who had a high degree of control and regulation in society, made the Iranian society to be web like. The power of the leaders of the society prevented the government from fulfilling its reformative demands and policies. The constant struggle between the state and society led to ways of achieving "compromise" by the state. "Encouraging strife" in networked society has been another way for the government to overcome this inability. This paper analyzes the structure of Iranian society and the power of the pre-modern state from the Safavid era to the beginning of the Constitutional era based on Migdal's theoretical model and seeks to answer the question: “What pattern of power relations between the state and society in pre-modern Iran did it follow?” The purpose of this study is to examine the sociological power relations of the governments with social forces from a historical perspective in order to understand the reason for the problem of the weakness of the political power of the modern state in Iran. In this article, the results suggest a kind of confrontation and contrast between governments and social forces in which government is disintegrated and the network community struggles to survive the government and social rivals.
History
Alireza Ashtari Tafreshi
Abstract
Qawanin al-Wizarah is one of the most significant works of Abul Hasan al-Mawirdi, a policy theoretical scholar of the 5th century AH, in which he presented a constructed image of the government; however, this image is not purely theoretical, but also that is to a great amount image of government with ...
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Qawanin al-Wizarah is one of the most significant works of Abul Hasan al-Mawirdi, a policy theoretical scholar of the 5th century AH, in which he presented a constructed image of the government; however, this image is not purely theoretical, but also that is to a great amount image of government with its essential working parts and process.
Understanding the relationship between the variables active in the writer's thoughts and society with the content of this work is the main problematic issue of the current research. Despite the importance of Qawanin al-Wizara in the heritage of Islamic political thought and Islamic statesmanship, this work has been less studied by contemporary researchers when it has been more in the shadow of al-Mawirdi's more well-known other work, Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah, so usually scholars have not paid enough attention to Qawanin al-Wizarah`s significance.
For this reason, the current research aims to identify the main characteristics of an efficient government in this important work of statesmanship. This research by applying the thematic analysis method has tried to explain the main factors of an efficient government in Qawanin al-Wizarah. This study has been done through a library method when its main concentration has been on the Arabic text of Qawanin al-Wizarah.
A Part of the achievement of this research is the understanding of more than 300 themes of Qawanin al-Wizarah the work has been mainly constructed; The result of their analysis shows the division of themes into the categories of crisis themes, crisis causes, crisis solutions, and efficient government or crisis-free (ideal) government by them the work has been presented.
Our final step is the attempt to understand the achievement of thematic analysis of the text through the conceptual approach of Thomas Spragens in his book Understanding Political Theory (New York, 1976). By this last step, it becomes clear that al-Mawirdi considered the political crisis of the 5th century AH as the lack of structural, behavioral, and program procedures for government administration, as the main issue of Spragens is finding political-social crisis behind motivations of writing every original book in political theory.
In this step, it became clear that al-Mawirdi employed all his themes in his book to solve the crisis, when he carefully drew dozens of structural models, organizational behavior, and government programs for the ruler, Wazir, and some other main figures of government to use them to be well guided throughout the way of governing. Spragens believes that the model of "disorganization - trying to return to order" causes the emergence of political thought in the mind of political thinkers to transition from crisis to ideal.
It seems that al-Mawirdi considered disorder to be the cause of the inefficiency of the government, and he made it possible to achieve an efficient government through a theoretical production of organizational order. From the early Islamic period, the experience of the government system in Sassanid Iran was transferred to the Islamic Caliphate and caused its prosperity. But during al-Mawardi`s lifetime, the government system had suffered from internal problems and degeneration;
The historical books of this period are full of all kinds of narrations about very ridiculous conflicts between government officials, such that due to a little annoyance and greed, the leaders of the government used to draw swords at each other, and the government treasures were easily looted. The Turkish generals, who were considered the special and main troops of the caliph, were also the main threat against the government structure.
In this period, the dominance of the Turkish generals over the usual routines of the Abbasid caliphate, which was previously based on the regulations of Iranian Sassanid manner, had caused the deterioration of the government's performance. Thus, the hierarchy and structure, professional ethics, and organizational behavior were also destroyed in court. In such circumstances, the Qawanin al-Wizarah, focusing on the themes of regulations, had been a theoretical support to overcome this internal degeneration of the government and a response to the needs of the author`s era. The final result of this research has analyzed the relationship between the era and the text which was the solution to the crisis that had been the reproduction of the concept of efficient government.
Mohamad Hossein Jamshidi
Abstract
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explain concept, nature and features of the state and the political system in Allameh Shahid Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr’s thought. Among contemporary Emami thinkers, he is one of the thinkers that examined the question of the state with accuracy and attention ...
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Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explain concept, nature and features of the state and the political system in Allameh Shahid Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr’s thought. Among contemporary Emami thinkers, he is one of the thinkers that examined the question of the state with accuracy and attention to the principle of human nature, spirituality and Islam. He believes that it is inevitable for man and is the basis for civilization. He also explains the government due to the major crisis of contemporary human which he calls it crisis of social and political system. Therefore it is important for us to investigate his theory. From belief in monotheism, divine justice, and human dignity Sadr derives three maxims: the absolute sovereignty of God over the world, human freedom and the need to devise collective destiny of man by himself. But the result of the acceptance of these three principles is "caliphate" and succession of man on earth instead of God and its political dimension through the formation of "state" which is undeniable due to requirements of human society. So the main question of this paper is that in political thought of martyr Sadr, what is the state and does it have any status? In response to this question, I study his theory about the state, on the basis of the logical reconstruction of the formation of thoughts. Methodology of this paper is logical reconstruction and analytical explanation, with regard to the question of nature and features of state theory in his thought, for presenting his theory in a coherent and logical format. On this basis, by reviewing his works, we find that in thought of martyr Sadr the state is a human and historical necessity that in its complete form is manifested in the Islamic state. So, the Islamic state is a religious necessity for realization of Islam and is a civil and civilizational necessity to bring people to perfection and well-being which is based on the principle of human nature and Creation and his needs.
Shoja Ahmadvand; Ahmad Reza Bordbar
Abstract
A controversial concept, state is a single denominator with diverse and multifaceted models, as well as a contentious phenomenon with numerous problems in meaning, concept and application. While some see the state as a phenomenon that dates back to the sixteenth century, others cite the state as a special ...
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A controversial concept, state is a single denominator with diverse and multifaceted models, as well as a contentious phenomenon with numerous problems in meaning, concept and application. While some see the state as a phenomenon that dates back to the sixteenth century, others cite the state as a special form of government; therefore, in this sense, every social order requires the state. In ancient Iran, the concept of government and governance will only mean with the concept of a prince, as the institution of the prince in the Iranian thought is the ideal king. The present study seeks to examine the nature of government in ancient Iran as the first center of dynamism and emergence of government in the human world. In this study, the main question is on what basis was the nature of government in ancient Iran during the Achaemenid era? After answering the question, it is hypothesized that the nature of government in ancient Iran was based on Iranian ideology of an ideal king based on religious and moral purity, since Iranian morality and spirit were based on Zoroaster teachings and the Achaemenid kings represented their attributes of heavenly monarchy. This hypothesis has been processed by a historical sociology approach and an analysis of the nature of state during the Achaemenid period in a descriptive-analytic method.
Khalil Sardarnia; Hosien Mohseni
Abstract
Intellectuals are one of the important efficient social forces in political processes and policy making at sovereignty level. Besides they are one of the important and influential reference groups that give shape to public opinion. In Iran in 19 century, with civilizational collision ...
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Intellectuals are one of the important efficient social forces in political processes and policy making at sovereignty level. Besides they are one of the important and influential reference groups that give shape to public opinion. In Iran in 19 century, with civilizational collision with the West was shaped the intellectual mainstream under the impacts of Iran’s socio-political developments. In this research, the authors try to explain the reasons and factors of intellectual’s transition from democratic ideas and beliefs to the idea of authoritative state in two time periods of constitutionalism and Pahlavi by using explanative method and knowledge sociology and romanticism. In response to this question, it must be told that in this metamorphosis rooted in socio-political factors in constitutional age such as political anarchy, Protorianism, national sovereignty crisis, non-realization of democratic ideals and principles and public tiredness of socio-political turbulence. The finding of this article shows that the intellectual mainstream in the beginning years of constitutional revolution and its critical situation came to this conclusion that in the absence of authoritative state or government as a main motivation for development, there would be no hope for national sovereignty and development and additionally without authoritative stability, liberties lead to anarchism and national humiliation.
Habib ollah Fazeli; Hadi Rajabi
Abstract
One of the essential problems in institutional policies in developing countries is the existence of abstractive institutions such as incompetent rents, the culture of kinship and the lack of transparency of administrative processes. This article focuses on the concept of clientelism as institution within ...
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One of the essential problems in institutional policies in developing countries is the existence of abstractive institutions such as incompetent rents, the culture of kinship and the lack of transparency of administrative processes. This article focuses on the concept of clientelism as institution within the framework of the new institutionalism theory, seeking to disclose the indicators and significance of this institution in the Pahlavi II government. Clientelism assumed as an abstractive institution which leads to the development of the cycle of vicious. The main hypothesis (idea) of this article is that the clientelism is the main reason for losing social trust of sovereignty and the reduction of social capital in the second Pahlavi state, finally, the main reason of its collapse. In the other words, social distrust as a result of the institution of Clientelism bring the second Pahlavi into a social catastrophe, its outcome was the collapse of the political system. Social trap means choice of advantageous policies by social networks and political system, which evidently to be profitable initially, but ultimately leads to social harm and harm. But ultimately it leads to social collapse and political fall down; the Islamic Revolution (1979) was the result of these extensions.
Fatemeh Homayouni; Zahra Mirhosseini
Abstract
As one of the substantial factors influencing the persuasion of social structure during great crises, social capital plays a vital role in accelerating the implementation and effectiveness of policies adopted to control crisis. In this respect, this study aimed to examine the role of social capital in ...
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As one of the substantial factors influencing the persuasion of social structure during great crises, social capital plays a vital role in accelerating the implementation and effectiveness of policies adopted to control crisis. In this respect, this study aimed to examine the role of social capital in the level of satisfaction with government performance in COVID–19 control policy-making. The statistical population of the study comprised all citizens of Tehran. The Cochrane formula was used to determine the sample size, which amounted to 400. The study relied on multistage cluster sampling to choose the participants in 22 districts of Tehran in Iran. Having been collected by a researcher-made questionnaire, the data was processed through SPSS software with one-sample t-tests, Pearson Correlation, multivariate linear regression, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings indicate that citizens living in Tehran have a moderate level of satisfaction with government performance in controlling COVID–19. Moreover, the lowest satisfaction mean value was associated with supply chain management and access to health items while the highest mean value of satisfaction pertained to the constraints and social distancing. There was a high correlation between the variable of social capital and satisfaction with government performance in COVID–19 control (R=0.552), and it can predict 30.3% of satisfaction variances. The results show that the variable of trust was the most important predictor of satisfaction with government performance in COVID–19 control.
Roz Fazli
Abstract
The Taliban movement was born in the condition of internal and external conflicts. The domain for the emergence of this movement was events such as the internal coup d’état on April 28th, 1978, the invasion of the Red Army in 1979, and the civil wars of 1994-1992 in Afghanistan. Finally, ...
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The Taliban movement was born in the condition of internal and external conflicts. The domain for the emergence of this movement was events such as the internal coup d’état on April 28th, 1978, the invasion of the Red Army in 1979, and the civil wars of 1994-1992 in Afghanistan. Finally, the Taliban with a quasi-totalitarian identity tried to declare its existence and rule in that country under the title of the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban between 1996 and 2001. This article tries to look at the emergence of the Taliban movement by relying on Alain Touraine's theory about the emergence of movements, relying on the three principles of Opposition, Identity, and Totality, and analyzing the third principle of "Totality" among these three principles in the establishment of the Emirate of Taliban. The following article tries to answer the question of whether it is possible that the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban 1996-2001 can be recognized as a totalitarian state that has found its identity from the historical conflict situation. To answer this question, Hannah Arendt's opinions in the book Totalitarianism have been cited, and six indicators have been selected for this comparative study, all of which are analyzed according to Arendt's theory of understanding and describing the characteristics of totalitarian political systems. These indicators are: formlessness (informité), mass society, absolute loyalty, ideology and the meaning of borders, totalitarian leadership and Religion and rituals. Before examining these indicators, an attempt has been made to answer these two questions: to what extent is it possible to compare the State in the West and the State in the Islamic world? And also, to what extent can there be a relationship between the Islamic state and the totalitarian State? The theoretical framework used in this research is a combination of Alain Touraine's opinion (in understanding socio-political movements) and Hannah Arendt's theory (in understanding totalitarianism). The research method used in this article is the library and documentary method.
Kiyomars Ashtarian; Hasan Karimifard
Abstract
City councils are assumed to be one of the most important institutions for decentralization and realization of balanced development based on spatial-geographical features in Iran. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, city councils were formed in 1999 and have a relatively short history. On the basis of the ...
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City councils are assumed to be one of the most important institutions for decentralization and realization of balanced development based on spatial-geographical features in Iran. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, city councils were formed in 1999 and have a relatively short history. On the basis of the evaluation of the city councils’ life within four periods we can point to their not very favorable performance considering the goals set out in the related laws and documents. The present essay is trying to examine and analyze the reasons for their lack of success in different aspects. Our statistical population consisted of members of the city councils across the country, members of the parliament and experts in areas related to the city councils. Single sample t-test was used to investigate the function of the councils. To express the relationship between two variables and also prove significant or not significant relationship between them and the impact of each independent variable on the dependent variable, a bivariate linear regression analysis was used. The results indicate that the centralization, the rentier system and ambiguous legal status have led to unsatisfactory performance of the councils in Iran.
