مطالب

Participation is a process in which people involved to make endeavors aiming at a common goal; and they do this actively, freely with awareness and accountability. Women participation as one of the principles for development can be studied from different perspectives. The objective of the present study is to investigate social and cultural factors influencing social participation of rural women in the developmental process. The theories of experts in modernism domain in general and feminism theories like liberal feminism in particular, are theoretical bases of this study. This research was conducted through interviews (during October 2002 to May 2003) in one of the villages of Azerbaijan Sharghi province; where 155 women with the average of 15-60 were selected as subjects whose answers were then analyzed. The average rate of social participation of rural women based on this research is shown to be low and only 4 percent of respondents had a high participation rate. Their type of participation was mainly traditional and religious including participation in birth anniversary, religious get-to-gether and health houses; it in fact manifests a kind of passive participation. However, based on the data there was a correlation between the social participation of rural women and variables relevant to women’s attitude and self-concept (internal factors), age, education (background factors), their access level to urban centers, and the media (structural factors).

After the collapse of bipolar system in the world, different views and theories expressed by the scholars and thinkers about the future of the world and international system. One of them is the theory of “ The Clash of Civilizations” which was propounded in 1993 by the Samuel Huntington, the director of J.M.Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in Harvard Uni-versity. This theory caused some anxieties in the world. In reaction to this theory, Mohammad Khatami, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, proposed “Dialogue Among Civilizations” as a paradigm in the international relations which was accepted by the 53rd General Assembly of the United Nations on 3 September 1998 and approved a resolution for the purpose of promoting dialogue among cultures and civiliza-tions, and called the year 2001 as “the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations”. This article based on both mentioned theories, refers to the role of dialogue approach in creation of peaceful relations between nations and states.

Globalization and democracy have become the most debated issues throughout the world, which, no doubt also influence Iran. This paper highlights these phenomena with respect to Iran but takes up the issue through various description and features presented by the con-temporary socio- political thinkers and economists. Considering globalization, although the subject matter is very recent but Iran has been experiencing this phenomenon with the emergence of modern communication networks and economic growth. The democratic proc-ess had started early in 19th century but was thoroughly suppressed by the despotic regime. However, the globalization trends in 1990s have affected most of the countries and Iran too has experienced the changing mood of the people. Present study focuses on the various as-pects of globalization and its influences over democracy during post- revolutionary period.

The aim of this study is to carry out an empirical study of constraint factors in recreational sporting activities. More specifically it tests the model of constraints (intra-personal, interpersonal, and structural), as proposed by Crawford et al. (1991), and its relationship with actual participation levels in specific recreational sports activities in Iran. Although there is a growing body of study in the USA, Canada, and United Kingdom into gender differences in leisure opportunities and behavior, Little is known about leisure activities in Iran. The maim purpose of this study is about the factors prohibiting female student at Khorasgan Azad Islamic University to participate in recreation sporting activities. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory investigation into factors influencing the recreational sporting activities. The data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire among three hundreds (300) female students who were participated in recreational sporting activities (102 individuals once or more per week, 129 individuals once or more per month, and 69 individuals once per year or more). Leisure constraints factors used in this study named as lack of time, lack of money, lack of facilities, transportation, social relations, lack of interest, unawareness, lack of skill and ability, and health and fitness problems. The findings showed that significant differences was found among constraint factors such as lack of time, lack of money, transportation, lack of interest, unawareness, lack of skill and ability, and health and fitness problems. These findings have theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed.