World Sociopolitical Studies

This study attempts to assess the different ways through which Islam as a religion can impact politics. In fact, the notion that is collectively labeled as Islam and its re-interpretation as an escalating presence of religion in politics in today's world has deep layers. To distinguish a variety of these layers, each with different characteristics, they should be defined, and the type of contributions they can make to politics should be examined one by one. Mixing up the layers with each other and employing characteristics of one for another can result, and in fact has resulted in many misunderstandings in political discussions. In order to show how to distinguish the layers and how to find the dominant layer of religion in each case, the role played by Islam in three important Islamic countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will be examined. Comparing and contrasting these cases, this paper will conclude that only through identifying layers of religion in force and distinguishing the dominant ones can the actual role of religion be examined in each case study.

The right to peace and global security are considered as critical rights and necessities for human life, the realization of which requires support of the global society. Initially, the establishment of the United Nations made people believe that they are achieving this significant matter, and a major part of problems caused by disagreements and growing wars are being solved. Unfortunately, this has not been the case and we are still observing the increasing rate of clashes, domestic conflicts and foreign wars all around the World. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the barriers against the realization of this right and seek to address them. With little reflection, one discovers that one of the principle roots of the existing disagreements and unending wars around the World is the inefficiency of the United Nations (UN), which was established with the purpose of maintaining peace and security in the world. However, the UN suffers from significant difficulties in recognition, structure, and execution in the field of right to peace, which are mainly due to legal reasons. Therefore, this study attempts to find the existing weaknesses, including defects and shortages, of the United Nations in maintaining peace and security around the World.  In addition, we will try to  propose strategies to prevent the repetition of past mistakes, correct such defects, and take effective measures to improve the right to peace.

The United States’ relations with Cuba are rooted in the US intervention in the process of Cuba’s independence from Spain in the 1890s. The US preserved its interest-based approach towards Cuba during the first half of the 20th century, which culminated in the Cuba’s counter-hegemonic revolution in 1959. This revolution led to more than fifty years of hostility between two countries, which took a new form under President Obama’s administration. Indeed, Barack Obama and Raul Castro surprised the world in 2014, announcing that they would reinstate full diplomatic relations and pacify bilateral tensions. Since World War II, United States has been the hegemon of the world relying on three pillars of its liberal bloc, i.e. liberal values and culture, economic and military capabilities, and international organizations. However, during Obama’s administration, the occurrence of events such as the rise of new economic powers, Global Financial Crisis and the rise of left-turn in Latin America caused some speculations about the declining US hegemony and its transition to leadership. However, qualitative content analysis of the US Inter-American policies indicates that US hegemony in Latin America including Cuba is deeply rooted in the early decades of US formation. Moreover, the continuation of US economic embargo on Cuba and its long-lasting military presence in the island indicate that Obama’s policy did not provide a leveled playing field to resolve Cuba’s problems. Hence, US leadership in Cuba and true and equal partnership between both countries still seem unattainable. 

Nearly four decades after Iranian-Egyptian diplomatic relations were severed, the two countries are yet to restore them. This is a result of the predominance of certain negative emotional attachments embedded in Iranian and Egyptian identities, which have clouded their respective attitudes toward one another. Mired in resentment against Arabism, the national component of the Iranian state identity catalyzes a disinclination to resolve problems with Egypt; in addition, Iran’s religious component carries resentment against Egypt as a state against Shia identification. The anti-western dimension of the Iranian state identity strengthens Iran’s negative emotional attachment to Egypt as a country allied with the United States and recently reconciling with Israel. On the Egyptian side, the Arab nationalism as the defining feature of the Egyptian state identity dictates estrangement from Iran and reluctance to engage with that. These negative emotional predispositions shape Iran and Egypt’s understanding of one another and, in the absence of pressing material interests, explain the continuous failure of the two countries to rebuild their relations. 

One of the most important economic topics in every country is considering tax issues as a way of increasing the government's income through attracting public confidence by observing the principles of proceeding in the tax system of the country which might likely cause a national production boom, increase economic growth rate, reduce unemployment and the fair distribution of wealth. In this regard, since the majority of taxpayers in a country pay taxes and at the same time their rights might be threatened, it is therefore necessary to establish courts and tribunals for settlement of rights and resolving hostility, and because of the close connection of individuals with the issue of tax, they may refer to these authorities more than others. Accordingly, references must be made in accordance with a fair proceeding in order to best determine the rights of the modalities, which will not be achieved except through the adoption of fair trial principles that are endorsed and supported by international legal institutions and are accepted as the principles for the implementation of fair results in the global prosecution system. Today, there are several systems of tax proceedings in different countries, each of which has weaknesses and strengths in terms of affinity and fairness of fair proceeding principles. In this paper, by examining the tax jurisdiction of Iran, the United States, Britain, Germany and France, as well as the patterns of exploitation of each of these systems and comparing the tax systems of these countries with the accepted principles of fair proceeding, the degree of proximity or the distortion of the above tax systems into the principle of the implementation of justice, which should be the ultimate goal for lawmakers, will be studied.

Iran and Ethiopia have had bilateral relations for almost two thousand years. These relations were accompanied by cultural exchanges among the people, resulting in the acceptance of both nation’s cultural elements by the other. A thorough knowledge of these cultural exchanges is not only important in understanding the history of the bilateral relations between the two countries; it would also be helpful in planning future relations between Iran and Ethiopia. Therefore, this paper aims to study the important subject of “cultural exchanges between Iran and Ethiopia” through an analysis of the way in which each nation has culturally influenced the other. Based on Lahsaeizadeh’s theory of “Cultural Exchange between Different Ethnic Groups”, and through a meticulous observation of Iran-Ethiopia relations throughout history via library and field research, this paper attempts to examines the bilateral cultural influence of one nation on the other. The analysis of diverse historical documents as well as comprehensive field research indicate that while both nations have culturally influenced each other, it was the Iranian culture that had mostly influenced the Ethiopian culture for centuries in the field of language, architecture, religion and music. The reason for this strong influence is mainly the wider dominion of the Iranian civilization and culture.