Developments in the Middle East
Majid Mohammadi; Ahmad Bakhshayeshi; Mohammad Tohidfam; Aliakbar Amini
Abstract
IntroductionIranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties have been a source of insecurity in western Iran, undergoing significant changes in their movement over time. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, they exploited the vacuum in central power and the nascent revolution, creating instability and insecurity ...
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IntroductionIranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties have been a source of insecurity in western Iran, undergoing significant changes in their movement over time. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, they exploited the vacuum in central power and the nascent revolution, creating instability and insecurity in Iran’s territories against the central government and people residing in Kurdish regions. Later, as the central government established itself and brought peace and order to the country, these parties sought refuge in Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s regime, which was then at war with Iran. After Saddam’s fall, they fled to northern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, citing a shared Kurdish identity as the reason. Understanding the roots of their presence in northern Iraq and their impact on Iraqi Kurdistan requires examination of the current power structure in Iraq and sociological analysis of its ethnic and religious dynamics, especially during the democratization process in the post-Saddam era.The overthrow of Saddam Hussein had a profound impact on Iraq’s political structure, resulting in consociational democracy as the replacement. Consociational democracy, as an alternative for majoritarian democracy, relies on the cooperation and agreement of the power elite and parties involved in heterogeneous societies. Given Iraq’s unique cultural, social, and historical factors, it was not feasible for majoritarian democracy to ensure public participation and protect minority rights. Even consociational democracy has its own consequences and effects. In Iraq, consociational democracy led to changes in the power dynamics and positions of the Iraqi Kurds. These changes had implications beyond Iraq, affecting the Kurds of other countries—including Iranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties—given their shared identity and common historical and cultural background. The main question of the research is, what is the impact of consociational democracy and the institutionalization of power in Iraqi Kurdistan on Iranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties? Literature ReviewUsing analytical and descriptive methods, Pourahmadi et al. (2016) examined the obstacles facing the democratization process in Iraq. The results revealed multiple factors including ongoing insecurity and political instability, low levels of economic and social development indicators, weak civil political culture, and other factors that exacerbate these crises. Nasri and Rezaei (2018) adopted an analytical–descriptive approach to examine the limitations and possibilities of the Iraqi Kurdistan region in achieving independence. The results concluded that currently, due to structural constraints, geopolitical nature, and resistance from neighboring countries, complete independence for the Iraqi Kurdistan region is not feasible. Relying on the content analysis method, Mohammadi (2008) studied ethnic divisions and their role in ethnic divergence within the country. The results indicated that in regions with higher social divides, there is greater ethnic divergence, while areas with intersecting divides experience lesser divergence.Materials and MethodsThe present research used a qualitative method and a descriptive–analytical model to investigate the impact of consociational democracy and institutionalization of power in Iraqi Kurdistan on Iranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties.The research employed Lijphart’s perspective on consociational democracy as a theoretical framework and applied it to the Iraqi context. The main objective of the study was to offer a thorough analysis of how consociationalism and power institutionalization in Iraq have impacted Iranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties.Lijphart identified four key criteria for consociational democracy: grand coalitions, proportionality, mutual veto rights, and segmental autonomy or federalism. These criteria were incorporated into the government structure of Iraq after 2005. This study analyzed the impact of this democratic process on Iraqi society, including the Kurdish population, and assessed the effects of changes in Iraqi Kurdish society on Iranian Kurdish movements, particularly anti-Revolution movements. To ensure the study’s reliability, the researchers relied on 20 experts, including university professors and specialists in the issues related to Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, and the Kurdish anti-Revolution front. Additionally, the results of in-depth questionnaires were used to formulate and compare the findings.ConclusionIn conclusion, the consociational democracy and institutionalization of power in Iraqi Kurdistan have led to a shift in the autonomy strategy and the adoption of federalism among Iranian Kurdish anti-Revolution parties. As a result, their independence and centrifugal tendencies have increased. The discourse of autonomy among these parties has evolved into a discourse of federalism, influenced by Iraqi Kurdish politics. This shift does not diminish the significance or meaning of the process, but rather opens up a more nuanced discussion of separatism, including the right to self-determination and a Kurdish independence referendum within a federal framework. Federalism is a more appealing and populist concept for the anti-Revolution parties. These armed groups have continued to provide military and urban warfare training to the Peshmerga forces in the Kurdistan region and occasionally engage in guerrilla attacks on Iran’s borders. Since the fall of Saddam’s regime, Iraqi Kurdistan has become a base of support for Kurdish anti-Revolution forces, enabling them to create pursue instability in western Iran and pursue their separatist agenda through both soft and hard tactics.Due to the strong sense of Kurdish identity, the Kurdish society and the Kurdish anti-Revolution are inevitably influenced by Iraqi Kurdistan. This issue should be addressed in order to control the peace and security of the borders. In this line, it is suggested that the costs of hosting the Kurdish anti-Revolution in the Iraqi Kurdistan region be increased for both the regional government and the central government of Iraq. This can be achieved by relying on soft power, diplomatic efforts, and negations with the Kurdish and Iraqi authorities, or if necessary, by resorting to military power.
Political Sociology
Majid Mohammadi; Ahmad Bakhshayeshi; Mohammad Tohidfam; Aliakbar Amini
Abstract
Kurdish counter-revolutionary movements are one of the causes of insecurity in the west of the country, which fled to northern Iraq after the imposed war. On the other hand, the fall of Saddam in 2003 changed the political structure of Iraq. In the context of Iraq's ethnic and religious heterogeneity, ...
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Kurdish counter-revolutionary movements are one of the causes of insecurity in the west of the country, which fled to northern Iraq after the imposed war. On the other hand, the fall of Saddam in 2003 changed the political structure of Iraq. In the context of Iraq's ethnic and religious heterogeneity, a consensus-based democracy was chosen to govern Iraq instead of Western-majority democracies. This model of government had effects and consequences that sometimes led to a change in the position and power of the Iraqi Kurds. Given the unified identity and identical historical and cultural background of the Kurds, this change will have implications for the Kurds of other countries, including the Iranian Kurdish counter-revolutionary parties. The purpose of this study was to provide an appropriate explanation regarding the impact of this trend on counter-revolutionary currents. This research is of applied type and qualitative method with descriptive and analytical approach. The theoretical framework of Lechfart's model of association democracy is based on 20 Kurdish counter-revolutionary experts and the Iraqi Kurdistan region to ensure the reliability of the research. It is suggested to increase the cost of hosting Iranian Kurdish anti-revolutionary parties for the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Mahdi Abdollahi Ziyaedini; ALi Morshedi Zad
Abstract
The main issue of the present research is to explain the causes of the emergence of ethnic political actions in different status of governance in Iran with an emphasis on the dialectic of democracy and development, while the required mood of interaction between the state and ethnicities has been identified. ...
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The main issue of the present research is to explain the causes of the emergence of ethnic political actions in different status of governance in Iran with an emphasis on the dialectic of democracy and development, while the required mood of interaction between the state and ethnicities has been identified. The research method is a qualitative comparative-historical that is used in the theoretical framework of Charles Tilly's social movements to explain two democracy and developmental components.
As a result of the research, the era before the Islamic Revolution was non-democratic state with low development capacity because of Assimilation and the early years of the revolution is democratic capacity with a low capacity because of tolerant approach. In the final stages of the war, Sazandegi, the ninth and tenth governments and the Etedal, the capacity of the government has risen, because of the necessity of the development of infrastructure, and the improvement of the economic and social situation but the level of democracy has diminished because of security and countering Separatism. Finally, the era of Eslahat is seen as an optimal state of a democratic state with a high development potential.
nesa z; Ebrahim Sarparst Sadat; s a
Abstract
Turkey's constitutional referendum is a recent era of internal developments in Turkey. With the fragile victory of the Justice and Development Party on April 16, 2017, the study of this referendum and developments regarding the future of democracy in the country can be considered a matter worthy of further ...
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Turkey's constitutional referendum is a recent era of internal developments in Turkey. With the fragile victory of the Justice and Development Party on April 16, 2017, the study of this referendum and developments regarding the future of democracy in the country can be considered a matter worthy of further study. In this paper, the paper attempts to analyze the constitutional referendum of Turkey by using the theory of elite circulation as a theoretical framework. In this regard, the central question of the article is how does the referendum on the Turkish constitution affect the future of democracy and political stability in Turkey? This paper, based on descriptive and analytical documents, has strengthened the hypothesis that the recent constitution referendum of Turkey has undermined the future of the political system based on the circulation of the elites of the country, and it leads to mediation that competitive environment will be limited to other non-government elites, such as opposition parties, and the future of political stability and democracy in this country will be more fragile than the past, as well as the future of Turkish political and social security, more shaky than before.
Abstract
After World War II, world order was based on two basic principles of thought and value and a practical basis (military and political). The first was the claim of the supremacy and value of the West and its consolidation on other nations. The second point was the issue of political and military capabilities. ...
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After World War II, world order was based on two basic principles of thought and value and a practical basis (military and political). The first was the claim of the supremacy and value of the West and its consolidation on other nations. The second point was the issue of political and military capabilities. If nations or governments were not affected by that system of value and thought and did not surrender, they were forced to accompany by political and military pressures.Both factors are changing today; the most important reason is the intellectual and practical conflicts of the domination system.
This research focuses on the views of the Iranian leader about the system of domination and its conflicts, the main question is: What are the conflicts of domination system in international relations in practical termswith the theoretical field, in the discourse of Ayatollah Khamenei? "Results of the study indicate the contradictions of the dominant system in theory and practiceon issues like human rights, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and democracy. In discourse of Iranian leader, these contradictions revealed the vulnerability of the domination systemand it will facilitate the process of collapse.
mojtaba shariati; Hosein Salimi
Abstract
The Middle East is changing. More actors and factors also influenced its changes, which has added to the complexity of the issues.These undetermined and vague conditions have led to different scenarios, which could figure out the future of the Islamic countries and the Middle East in general. So in this ...
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The Middle East is changing. More actors and factors also influenced its changes, which has added to the complexity of the issues.These undetermined and vague conditions have led to different scenarios, which could figure out the future of the Islamic countries and the Middle East in general. So in this article, this main question is answered, future trends of democracy in the Middle East by 2025, will have what effects on the national interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran?.In response to the main question, by reviewing the future study of future trends of democracy in the Middle East, a questionnaire was designed within the framework of the theory of constructivism and Delphi method, and was distributed among of experts and specialists. Then, by guiding with leadership team, the Delphi questionnaire data were analyzed. Then the results and opinions of the experts and respondents to the questions were analyzed qualitatively and four main scenarios were obtained which includes the rule of religious democracy, secularism, Salafism and the military, autocratic monarchy and ethnic governments.Finally, the most favorable scenario and the most threatening scenario for the national interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran were detected and solutions presented.
Abstract
One of the the most important issues in middle east and contemporary turkey is the study of stability and threat factors of democracy. Among the other countries of middle east, turkey has long-term experience in democracy. A glance to the country show turkey s democracy has fluctuating matter. In the ...
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One of the the most important issues in middle east and contemporary turkey is the study of stability and threat factors of democracy. Among the other countries of middle east, turkey has long-term experience in democracy. A glance to the country show turkey s democracy has fluctuating matter. In the other words, democracy in turkey as a form of government and a kind of relations between society and the government have face threat and stability factors simultaneously. The main goal of the article is evaluating causes of the issue. the article argues some variables such as turkey s constitution amendments, party system and trying to accession to EU (stability variables) and ethnic threats, religious minorities challenges and the military interventions (threat stability) have influenced turkey s democracy. to evaluate the hypothesis, the article has some sections such as theoretical framework with emphasis on stability and threat factors, historical approach to democracy trends in turkey and evaluation of threat-stability variables in turkey’s democracy.
Seyed Ebrahim Sarparst Sadat
Abstract
With the victory of the Islamic Revolution and establishment of a religious
democracy in Iran, the question about compatibility of Islam and democracy has
become a fundamental issue. This article aims to answer whether it is possible to
locate origins of the theory of religious democracy in pre-Revolutionary ...
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With the victory of the Islamic Revolution and establishment of a religious
democracy in Iran, the question about compatibility of Islam and democracy has
become a fundamental issue. This article aims to answer whether it is possible to
locate origins of the theory of religious democracy in pre-Revolutionary Islamic
thinkers. The hypothesis of the article is that it is possible to find a pattern for
religious democracy in the thought of the religious scholars such as Morteza
Motahhari, which served as a pioneer for theoretical debates in this field. The
article uses the current-discourse method to obtain Motahhari’s views about
democracy and its relation with religious democracy and its established form in
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mohammad Hossein Panahi; Somayyeh Shalchi
Volume 4, Issue 13 , October 2015, , Pages 95-118
Abstract
This study has investigated the effects of social factors on tendency towards democracy. Data for this analysis were collected from a sample of 643 citizens of Tehran aged 20 years and older. The theoretical framework was formulated using theories of Bourdiou, Inglehart, Habermas and Giddens. Social ...
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This study has investigated the effects of social factors on tendency towards democracy. Data for this analysis were collected from a sample of 643 citizens of Tehran aged 20 years and older. The theoretical framework was formulated using theories of Bourdiou, Inglehart, Habermas and Giddens. Social factors included social class, cultural capital, media usage, and religiosity. Descriptive findings reveal that majority of the Tehrani citizens have low tendency towards democracy. Only 4 percent of them have high level of tendency towards democracy. These citizens were more democratic in their attitudes than in their conducts. Explanatory findings show that there is significant relation among various dimensions of social class (i.e., cultural capital, economic capital and social status) with the tendency towards democracy. In addition, there is also significant correlation between cultural factors (i.e., social tolerance, social participation, democratic attitudes towards family) with the tendency towards democracy. Findings demonstrated that cultural capital was the most significant predictor of the dependent variable
Saleh hassanzadeh
Volume 1, Issue 3 , December 2013, , Pages 75-108
Abstract
there are two views about the relationship and interaction with the political system in west .1) Theory of Democracy. 2) Christian doctrine of divine right. As in Islam between Sunni and Imami faced two perspectives. Proponents of democracy do not have right to rebel against the government. Or Such right ...
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there are two views about the relationship and interaction with the political system in west .1) Theory of Democracy. 2) Christian doctrine of divine right. As in Islam between Sunni and Imami faced two perspectives. Proponents of democracy do not have right to rebel against the government. Or Such right only permitted for the whole nation. In theory of Divine Rule of Christianity obedience is necessary. In Islamic doctrine, many religious parties alowed to have an uprising against the cruel ruler . Although the overarching concern of turmoil as a serious obstacles in judgment has joined to the revolt. Explicitly, Hnabeleh discredit out to the ruler and has been banned. Verses and perspiration can not deny it.This position is not logically consistent. Imamia differ In related to the administration of justice and governments. Certainly in the Imamate and infallible rule is not justified defiance against them. Due to Impeccability ofcharacteristics is not acceptable to make a mistake or do sin. According to Shiite belief ,in the occultation of Imam Mahdi such permission is dedicated to Adel Faqih .The supreme authority of the state is not under these conditions is the government of compact and idolatrous .According to Islamic teachings stand up against tyrant have steps.
