Monday, January 24, 2005

Journal of Law and Politics

Law and Politics
Graduate School of Law and Political Science
Science and Research Campus
Pubisher
: Islamic Azad University (IAU)
Managing Director: Ali-Asghar Kazemi
Editor-in-Chief: Kayhan Barzegar
Assistant Editor: Alireza Moosavizadeh
Editorial Board:
Legal: Mohammad -Ali Ardebili, Goodarz Eftekhar Jahromi,
Nejad-Ali Almasi, Ebrahim Beigzadeh, Amir-Hossien Fakhari
Political-International: Hamid Ahmadi, Mohammad Amjad,
Alireza Azghandi, Homayoon Elahi, Abdol-Ali Ghavam
Address: Graduate School of Law and Political Science, Science and Research Campus, Poonak, Ashrafi Esfahani Blvd., Hesarak, Tehran, Iran.
Tel: +98(21) 480-9808, Fax: +98(21) 481-5924
P. O. Box: 14515/75
Email: ijlap@hotmail.com
faclap@hotmail.com





Journal of Law and Politics
6
Keywords: Social Classes, Iranian State, Class Mobility, Power, Order
Right to Development; in Theory and in Practice
Raha-Lucienne Zohadi

This article foregrounds afresh the legal and policy frameworks required in the international system at both economic and human rights fields to reach effective enjoyment of the right to development. The analyses of the author relate to four individual studies: 1- The record of the right to development; 2- The legitimacy of the right to development; 3- Interdependence of the right and the process of development; 4- Monitoring and implementation. The result is an effort to dislodge international law from its exclusive focus on the states, international institutions, and particular logics of economic development. The author argues that the states must recognize the right to development as a human right in order to realize development as an obligation in the line of national action and international partnership. She concludes that the development of the concept of right to development needs time to become accomplished, though it is currently used as a bargain in the hands of states.
Keywords: Right to Development, International Economic Law, Participation, Non-Discrimination, Justice, Good Governance
Journal of Law and Politics
5the critique of subjectivism and battle against the theory of truth in politics. The author, in this article, argues that not only influencing the concept of ideology has no bearing on subjectivism, but also a new horizon could be achieved by offering a new understanding of the concept of ideology within the framework of a discourse theory. The author proposes a theory of ideology which completes the theory of discourse and does not contrast it. Hence, in his opinion, maintaining the distinction between the two concepts of ideology and discourse is useful and better explains the relationship existing between the political order-symbols and power.
Keywords: Discourse, Ideology, Knowledge, Critical Theory, Structure, Language, Post-Structuralism
Class Mobility in Iran: The Determining Factors
Rahman Ghahremanpour
It is commonly argued that classes in non-Western societies are the products of state performance rather than social transformations. The author argues that the vicious cycle of power, that is the domination of political power over economic power, is one of the main reasons for the perpetuation of such a situation. In this regard, excessive class mobility is an important obstacle to the emergence of autonomous classes in Iran. It is expected that new class mobility (negative or positive) would be witnessed when there is a change in political system. Furthermore, there are other factors which affect the position of classes in Iran. International system, religion and specific structure of Iranian society are among these factors. According to the author, understanding the question of classes depends on studying the way in which power is executed in the society. Class is closely related to national identity, social cohesion and social order. Therefore, he concludes that the higher class mobility in a society, the lower will become social cohesion.
Journal of Law and Politics
4
modern texts on the formal and informal education of humanitarian law, and modern methods of tranining humanitarian law with the informal traditional education of humanitarian law in the country.
Keywords: Humanitarian Law, Iran, Education, Simulation, War, Geneva Conventions
A Survey on the US Supreme Court
Mohammad Amjad
The United States is a federal system in which power is distributed among the states and the federal government on the one hand and the legislature, the executive and the judiciary on the other. The US Supreme Court is comprised of nine members appointed by the president for life time. These judges may not be dismissed except through indictment. The members of the US Supreme Court are among the country’s elites and mainly belong to the higher strata of middle classes. The presidents seek to appoint those for this position who are closer to them ideologically. Notwithstanding, all members of the Supreme Court preserve their independence and act contrary to the presidents’ opinions on many occasions. In this article, the author endeavors to explain the structure and functions of the US Supreme Court, and its role and impact on the political-social developments of US society.
Keywords: Judicial Supervision, Judicial Self-Restraint, Judicial Dynamism, Constitution, Federalism, Federalists
Ideology, Discourse and Political Analysis
Jahangir Moeini Alamdari
The decline in attention to the ideology factor represents one of the consequences of the rise of relativist and non-essentialist perspectives in political science. This process began with resort to
Journal of Law and Politics
3toward the Arab world and Iraq in particular. The second and third sections observe the constants in the Iranian-Iraqi relations and pays attention to the challenges ahead. Finally, the author undertakes that Iran and the new Iraq are able to divert their relations from the stage of continued conflicts and threatening each other’s interests and direct them toward a constructive rivalry and cooperation within the framework of common interests. This will largely depend on the first step to be taken by the new Iraqi government.
Keywords: New Iraq, Iranian National Interests, Foreign Policy, Regional Security, Security Threat, Ethnic Rivalry
Measures for the Development and Education of Humanitarian Law in Iran
Mehdi Zakerian
Iranian society has always shown a special interest in learning human rights and humanitarian law. In this regard, examples abound as follow: pursuing charity activities, establishment of the Iran’s Red Crescent Society and its predecessor, ratification of four Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols, etc. This fact along with the political and economic characteristics of the Middle East increase the significance attached to the development and education of humanitarian law in Iran. In this context, the main question of the research would be how the education of humanitarian law can be expanded and institutionalized in Iran. To answer the aforementioned question, the authour offers the hypothesis that informal education is of more efficiency in training and institutionalizing the humanitarian international law in Iran. He also applies the instruments of observation, experimentation and the survey of research findings in the field of humanitarian law in Iran in order to test the hypothesis. He examines and compares the
Journal of Law and Politics
2
using the constructivist theory and emphasizing the awareness of the characteristics of the fourth debate in international relations field. The application of the above theory, which is analyzed as the most recent approach in international relations, is intended to answer the question that whether constructivism could play an explanatory and interpretative role in the study of Iran’s foreign policy and relations. This article covers three sections the first of which describes constructivism in international relations and the next sections scrutinize Alexander Vent’s opinions on constructivism, and the Iranian foreign policy from this perspective. The author reaches the conclusion that as long as the structure of international system differentiates between the actors constituting the system and there is a lack of a realistic recognition of the nature of the structure, none of the approaches including realism, liberalism and constructivism is an appropriate choice in the study and analysis of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy.
Keywords: Constructivism, Foreign Policy, Iranian Foreign Relations, International System, International Relations
Iran and the New Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities
Kayhan Barzegar
Considering the developments taking place in Iraq and the imminent installing of a new government in the country, the author, in this article, seeks to explore the opportunities and challenges of the aforementioned situation to the Iranian national interests. The main question of the research involves that what kind of government in Baghdad would secure the Iranian national interests, as the fact that Iraq has persistently represented and will be a strategic rival and a security threat to Iran. This article is organized in three sections. In the first section, the author exposes the Iranian general views
Journal of Law and Politics
1
Abstracts
Methodology of International Law
Ali-Asghar Kazemi
In this article, the author attempts to fill the gap arising from the lack of attention to the methodology in the field of law. Through putting forth the discussion of the methodology of international law, he paves the way for researchers and students of international law and related fields. Studying the dominant methodological and theoretical currents in the field of international law, new outlooks, which were proposed in the Methodology of International Law Symposium in 1991, are introduced and assessed. In this context, the first section of the article deals with the methodology in general. The other sections refer to the category of methods and methodology, and methodology in philosophy and legal studies. The author finally pays attention to the point that the understanding and command of the methods and approaches are necessary with respect to the recognition of sources, incremental codification and development, implementation, interpretation and judgment at all levels of the study of international law.
Keywords: Methodology of International Law, Formal Logic, Practical Logic, Philosophy of Law, International Law, International Community
Constructivism: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foreign Policy
Alireza Azghandi
In this article, the author intends to explain the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign relations in the post Iran-Iraq war era,
Contents
Vol.1,No.1,Winter2005
Articles
Methodology of International Law / Ali -Asghar Kazemi / 3
Constructivism: A Conceptual Framework for the Understanding of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foreign Policy / Alireza Azghandi / 19
Iran and the New Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead / Kayhan Barzegar / 37
Measures for the Development and Education of Humanitarian Law in Iran / Mehdi Zakerian / 57
A Survey on the Structure of the US Supreme Court / Mohammad Amjad / 75
Ideology, Discourse and Political Analysis /
Jahangir Moeini Alamdari / 95
Class Mobility in Iran: The Determining Factors /
Rahman Ghahremanpour / 109
Right to Development; In Theory and in Practice /
Raha-Lucienne Zohadi / 141
Book Review
The Economy of Iran: Dilemmas of an Islamic State / Mohammad Hossein Hafezian / 162
The State and Social Forces under the First Pahlavi Rule / Masood Aryaeinia / 168
Journal of Law and Politics
Journal of