محمدرضا قائدی

The purpose of this study is to conduct comparative review of Iran and Turkey’s cultural diplomacy in Iraq after the US invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Iran and Turkey, as two influential powers in the developments of the Middle East, are trying to advance their cultural diplomacy in Iraq according to the nature of their government, goals, and aspirations. The main question of the research is, “On what approach are the effectiveness factors of Iranian and Turkish cultural diplomacy in Iraq between 2003 and 2020 based?” The hypothesis is that Iranian cultural diplomacy in Iraq after 2003 has been following Shi’ism, the axis of resistance, and Iranianism as the cornerstones of its approach, as opposed to Turkish cultural diplomacy that is based on Turkish nationalism and neo-Ottomanism. Accordingly, each of these governments is trying to exert influence in Iraq using soft power and cultural diplomacy. In doing this, Iran and Turkey have different conditions, opportunities, threats, and tools to advance their cultural diplomacy. The research findings indicate that Iran is in a better position than Turkey in terms of conditions, opportunities and tools but the focus on Shiism and the issue of resistance in Iraq has led to little attention paid to other features of cultural diplomacy. In contrast, Turkey, with its benefit-oriented and opportunistic approach, has been able to make the most of tools such as Kurdish language and literature, media diplomacy, tourism development, scientific and educational topics, etc. through careful planning and has gained more influence in Iraq. The method of data analysis is descriptive-analytical and the data collection was carried out via library research.  

The expansion of NATO to the East under the policies of Atlanticism is one of the current issues of international relations, which has a lot to think about for the countries involved in this policy, their neighbors and the international order. After the expansion of NATO to the east, what will happen in the spheres of influence of NATO and the neighboring countries of those spheres and the conditions created, causes predictions in this field; One of them is the evaluation of the feasibility of cooperation between China and Russia with their own special conditions against this action, that is, Atlanticism. After experiencing many ups and downs in China-Russia relations, these two countries have gradually expanded their comprehensive cooperation since the mid-1990s. In the meantime, the expansion of NATO to the east is one of the important political, military and security issues that has led to the expression of common concern. And at the same time, the cooperation and positions of the two countries have come closer, especially towards the policies and actions of America and even Europe. Russia's concern about the presence of NATO in its borders and China's concern about the close military cooperation of the West with Taiwan have caused the two countries to work harder for mutual cooperation and their development fields. The concept of new Atlanticism provides a framework for analyzing security and normative challenges facing Europe and the world. This work and many similar works emphasize the fact that the behavior of America and its allies in the international system has become the basis for the creation of various coalitions and alliances. From the perspective of this research and emphasizing the threat balance theory, when the hegemon country and its allies create threats, or show threatening behaviors; They will create coalitions and alliances. In this article, an attempt was made to discuss the feasibility of expanding cooperation between China and Russia against Atlanticism by using the theoretical framework of threat balance. And the topic of these cooperation was examined according to the concepts, general capabilities such as (population, economic power, military power, etc.), geographical proximity, offensive capabilities and offensive intentions from the perspective of the threat balance theory.