مقالات
Hadi Ajili; Jabbar Khoda-Doost
Abstract
The European Union with 28 member states is one of the largest economic unions in the world, however, the economic and financial crisis of recent years preceded by the housing crisis of 2008 in the US created many difficulties for it, and affected some of its member states, such as Ireland, Portugal, ...
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The European Union with 28 member states is one of the largest economic unions in the world, however, the economic and financial crisis of recent years preceded by the housing crisis of 2008 in the US created many difficulties for it, and affected some of its member states, such as Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain and particularly Greece. The counties’ huge amount of debt and the doubt about their capacity to repay it, the weak financial policies of some member states and the inability of the European Central Bank in implementing financial discipline among EU members have created the biggest crisis confronting the EU since 1957. Although the EU was able to contain the crisis in 2013, and the Union entered a new phase of economic boom, the crisis has not completely been resolved and it may erupt once again in the future. Hence the question arises as to what is the impact of the Euro crisis on the process of integration in the EU. The hypothesis of this research is that although the EU has been able to contain the Euro crisis and enter a new period of economic growth, the impact of the crisis has been extensive and affected the process of EU integration. In order to arrive at such conclusion, various issues such as devaluation of the Euro, widening of the class gap, escalation of social unrest, extremist nationalisms and anti-European sentiments, the collapse of some governments, the tendency towards disintegration, and the possibility of Britain leaving the EU are discussed.
مقالات
Seyed Mohammad Ali Taghavi
Abstract
The European Union in its policy declarations states that the respect for human rights is a requirement in its internal and external relations. For instance, accession of European countries to the Union, enjoying its services, and even signing an agreement with non-members is dependent on the observation ...
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The European Union in its policy declarations states that the respect for human rights is a requirement in its internal and external relations. For instance, accession of European countries to the Union, enjoying its services, and even signing an agreement with non-members is dependent on the observation of human rights. In this paper, the position of human rights in the European Union legal system is explored. The Human rights regime in the EU consists of four strands: EU Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice, and the European Convention on Human Rights to which the Lisbon Treaty requires accession, but has not been finalised so far. Given the significance of the latter, it is necessary to expedite the accession of the EU to the Convention. Although, the Convention is referred to in the EU legal system and particularly in the European Court of Justice’ jurisprudence, the accession will institutionalise the status of the Convention in the legal system, and authorises an external entity to observe the respect for human rights in the EU functioning. Nevertheless, there seems to be a lacuna concerning human rights within EU institutions, as for instance, there is not sufficient regard for social and economic rights. Moreover, it is necessary for the above-mentioned strands to work together in a coherent and comprehensive regime.
مقالات
Reza Joneydi; Zahra AhmadyPour; Mohammad Reza Hafez-Nia
Abstract
Geopolitical imagination, by definition, is the competition between powers in forming individuals’, institutions’ and political factors’ perception of the characteristics and contents of geographical space, on the basis of their intended interests. In this article, as a case study, the US perception ...
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Geopolitical imagination, by definition, is the competition between powers in forming individuals’, institutions’ and political factors’ perception of the characteristics and contents of geographical space, on the basis of their intended interests. In this article, as a case study, the US perception of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War era is analysed. The authors argue that the image of an evil Soviet during the Cold War was formed through a complicated interaction process among formal geopolitics, applied geopolitics, and general geopolitics. It was through policies, doctrines, political statements including the Truman Doctrine, George Kennan’s Containment Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68), and Reagan’s Evil Empire Doctrine that the practical geopolitics of the United States provided an evil image of the Soviet Union as an inherently irreconcilable enemy. In this process, the formal geopolitics added a scientific dimension to US representation of the Soviet by presenting geopolitical theories like Heartland, Rimland, Domino, Chain Network, Seversky’s Air Power and the like. Finally, general geopolitics presented the geopolitical discourse of the Soviet Union as an evil enemy, convincing the public opinion by using media representations. Creating such a perception of the Union of Soviet Republics empowered the United States, in such a way that the latter set the ground for its geopolitical interventions in different regions of the world, while at the same time creating identity for its people during four decades of the Cold War.
مقالات
Seyyed Hadi Zarghani; Ali Akbar Dabiri
Abstract
In 2008, the Organisation of Gas Exporting Countries (OGEC) was formally established with 11 members in Doha, Qatar. While having economic and business nature, the organisation is seen as the Gas OPEC, having the potential for changing the geo-strategic and geopolitical structure of the World. Therefore, ...
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In 2008, the Organisation of Gas Exporting Countries (OGEC) was formally established with 11 members in Doha, Qatar. While having economic and business nature, the organisation is seen as the Gas OPEC, having the potential for changing the geo-strategic and geopolitical structure of the World. Therefore, it is regarded as a threat by Europe and the US to the security of their energy supply. Islamic countries, namely, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Indonesia, Qatar, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan constitute 9 of its 11 members. The increasing importance of gas as a clean energy source, economic dependence of the West especially Europe on importing gas, compliance of the Western defense and military industry with variations in the gas market, changes in the geopolitical and geo-economic map of the world and the weakening of the role of the US and West in the global economy have increased the influence of OGEC members, especially Iran and Russia vis-à-vis the West and the US. This has also provided a background for the convergence of Islamic members of the OGEC, and the formation a regional economic-political alliance among Islamic countries resulting in the increased geopolitical weight of the Muslim world against the West and the United States. In the present paper, besides studying the capacity of Muslim countries in the OGEC, the possibility of enhancing the status of the Islamic world in the geopolitical system of the world, through the organization, has been analysed.
مقالات
Jaafar Noruzi Nejad
Abstract
Iraq is a country with many social cleavages, due to its ethnic and religious diversity, and because pf the inability of its political elite, this feature has always hindered resolving its problems. With the removal of the authoritarian regime of Sadam Hossein, ethnic and religious disputes escalated ...
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Iraq is a country with many social cleavages, due to its ethnic and religious diversity, and because pf the inability of its political elite, this feature has always hindered resolving its problems. With the removal of the authoritarian regime of Sadam Hossein, ethnic and religious disputes escalated to their peak. The main question in this article is why has ethnic and sectarian violence exacerbated in Iraq after Saddam Hossein? In response to the question posed, it is argued that the process of international nation-state building or nation- state building from outside that was implemented with a security oriented approach by the US, because of its incompliance with cultural and social features of Iraq, has led to the intensification of sectarian and ethnic violence in the country. The method used in this research is qualitative and causal, using Rogers Brubaker’ theory. Findings of the reseach indicate that identical institutional structures do not work for all societies effectively, and every society’s exclusive capacities and delicacies must be taken into consideration in the process of nation-state building.
مقالات
Seyyed Ahmad Fatemi Nejad
Abstract
The link between international conflict and economy linkage is one of the focal subjects in international political economy (IPE). The aim of this article is to scrutinise the impact of the economic factor on managing Indo-Pakistan conflict based on IPE approaches. So, the article organizes as follows: ...
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The link between international conflict and economy linkage is one of the focal subjects in international political economy (IPE). The aim of this article is to scrutinise the impact of the economic factor on managing Indo-Pakistan conflict based on IPE approaches. So, the article organizes as follows: first, it is tried to provide a brief coherent theoretical framework concentrated on conflict-economy linkage; this contributes to idenifying two macro variables: bilateral cooperation and economy-oriented policy. Second, Indo-Pakistan cooperation is studied through two indices of bilateral trade and investment. Third, using available data, it is demonstrated that economy-oriented policy by the countries has deterred them from reciprocal hostile actions and led them to prudent conducts. The paper will be ended with a conclusion.
