مطالب

American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, which was first coined by James Truslow Adams in the 20 th century, meaning everyone should have the opportunity to reach what s/he desires according to his/her abilities and attempts. Although the concept of American Dream existed from the beginning days of the establishment of the United States, it has undergone significant changes throughout the country’s history. This study investigates the effect of the financialization of the economy (the increase of the importance and the size of the financial sector relative to the entire economy) in the 21 st century on the three key elements of the American Dream—homeownership, employment, and income—from George Bush’s presidency in 2001 to the end of Barack Obama's presidency in 2016. The theoretical framework of the study is the American Dream Theory and the financialization of capitalization, and its methodology consists of a qualitative historical analysis. The result of the study indicate that financialization of the economy in the 21 st century caused the American Dream to become more financialized: while presidents Bush and Obama promised to realize American Dream for all Americans, in practice, their administration policies were more in the interest of financial institutions and the rich, rather than low and middle-class Americans.

It is generally accepted that COVID-19 is one of the most serious challenges the countries have faced since the end of World War II. The coronavirus, as an external shock has reshaped economic structures and lowered integration among countries. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the globalization level of countries, which were classified into five Asian regions based on the United Nations geoscheme. To this end, an econometric method of estimation is employed based on the quarterly data pertaining to the study’s variables from 2010 to 2020. Results indicate that the pandemic has had a more severe negative impact on the globalization level of more developed countries in Asia, whereas it has had a smaller negative impact on less developed regions, such as those located in Central Asia. In this regard, Japan and China can be named as two economies in which the Coronavirus has had a greater negative impact on the level of globalization. It can be highlighted that the pandemic and its related consequences, such as protectionism (trade and capital de-liberalism) and travel restrictions are not considered as potential threats for all Asian countries. What constitutes a threat for various countries depends on the country’s economic nature, political stability, economic size, and globalization nature. Therefore, for globalization recovery, no unique pattern could be applied to all Asian countries, each having to determine useful practical policies based on its  economic mechanism and interactions with respect to both regional and global variables. 

The small and medium entrepreneurs’ and managers’ main interest is to avoid the problems resulting from the economic and social crisis during COVID-19. One way to prevent these problems is to increase the organizations’ resilience to achieve optimal business performance. Resilience helps with business continuity and performance, simultaneously assisting social, economic, and cultural policymakers and planners in their tasks. This study investigates the impact of  corporate resilience dimensions on performance in the food SMEs industry in Iran during the COVID-19 era. After reviewing the literature on organizational resilience (planned and adaptive) based on Porter’s value chain, the effects of  five dimensions (human resources, marketing, finance, supply chain management, and services) on corporate performance were assessed. Ninety-five questionnaires were collected from food industry SMEs using the simple random sampling method. SPSS 26 and SMART PLS 2.0 were used to analyze the data. The results of data analysis with Partial Least Squares (PLS) showed that all dimensions had a positive effect on corporate performance because all the items  had high t coefficients (t > 1.96). With GOF, the overall validation of the model is high. Appropriate changes in Porter’s value chain components (Human Resources, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain Management, and Services) under the COVID-19 influence have a positive effect on performance. 

The present article aims to investigate the modality of coverage and infodemic management regarding COVID 19 by the two Iranian mainstream media i.e., IRNA and Fars News Agency. To investigate the modality of infodemic management, the article specifically examines ‘building resilience to misinformation’. To reach this aim, content analysis has been used. Data for this study were selected from the Instagram pages of Fars News Agency (@fras_news) and Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) (Irna_1313) from February 19, 2019, the day of the official announcement regarding the first Coronavirus case in Iran, until October 25, 2021. In total 218 items were collected, out of which 64 cases were from IRNA and 154 were from Fars News Agency. Both news agencies were examined in terms of infodemic type, Infodemic themes and infodemic sources. The results of the study indicated that in terms of infodemic type, Fars mainly focused on fake news; while IRNA concentrated on prevalent public questions and concerns regarding the Coronavirus. In terms of infodemic themes, both news agencies focused on Corona phobia and vaccination. The results of the study indicate that social networking sites are the main sources of spreading infodemic regarding COVID-19. 

According to Iran's constitution, expanding relations with Africa has always been one of the strategic principles in the country’s foreign policy; all previous presidents have therefore sought to expand the country's relations with Africa. Rouhani, however, pursued a different policy in Africa. His arrival in the office marked a considerable shift in Iran’s foreign policy. Rouhani’s African policy, compared to his predecessors, presents a peculiar case, because rhetorically he highlighted the importance of improving relations with Africa, but in practice, he almost neglected Africa at least in terms of trade and official visits. In other words, in Rouhani’s presidency, Africa remained as a key principle in the IRI’s foreign policy but not as a strategic partner. This paper uses a qualitative content analysis for analysing Rouhani’s rhetorical positions on Africa. By adopting the constructivist theory of IR and the importance of policymaking theories, the paper also argues that due to the geopolitical importance of Africa, Iran’s relations with Africa, although insignificant, remained unchanged. In Rouhani’s time, however, relations declined significantly due to his Westward policy. In discussing this policy shift, the role of both structure and agency are important and emphasize the reactionary nature of Iran’s foreign policy.

Two years after the beginning of the pandemic, various strains of COVID-19 continue to affect relatively all regions and countries in the world. Each country responded to the pandemic based on its facilities, approaches, beliefs, and costumes. The main objective of this research is to study the responses, as well as the social and cultural approaches of COVID-19 patients in Iran. Twenty patients, who recovered from COVID-19 in Tehran, participated in this phenomenological and descriptive-interpretative-based research. The extracted profile includes social black holes, individual and social reactions to COVID-19, as well as outlooks on the different aspects of COVID-19 and post-traumatic growth. The findings of the study suggest that the patients face problems such as economic difficulties that coincided with the pandemic, as well as a lack of adequate medical equipment. This led them to ambivalence, which in turn prepared them for change; patients eventually reached a degree of acceptance and achieved post-disease growth.