Strategic Studies Quarterly

Abstract In international relations, those who impose sanctions have different motives for using this tool. A change in the US government's policy toward the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the JCPOA, is a notable issue in this regard. The question asked by the present article is: Where was the theoretical point of departure for the difference in sanctions diplomacy under US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama toward Iran despite its commitment to the terms of the agreement? The article's hypothesis is that while the Obama administration's sanctions policy was more based on a motivation to make Iran committed to conforming to international norms, the Trump administration's main objective is to advance US interests as far as possible regardless of international legal restrictions. From this perspective, the nuclear deal was considered effective by the Obama administration, while the Trump administration regards it as ineffective. The hypothesis is theoretically based on realism and liberalism theories about the function of sanctions in international relations and has been studied here using an analytical-explanatory model and reliable data.
 
 

Abstract This article tries to discuss status of justice and dialogue in practices of international security. The main question is that “how can dialogue make a more just international security? Realism, liberalism and constructivism can explain the status of dialogue. The process of globalization and emergence of fundamentalism has entered dialogue into theory and practice. In other words, dialogue and globalization have mutual relationship, which means that globalization could strengthen dialogue and dialogue helps globalization process.  From other point of view, dialogue and justice in practice through communicative action and tolerance which are based on rationality, can exclude fundamentalism.  This article first reviews genealogy of dialogue and justice then explains their status in international security using international theories. The last section explores this article’s relation with globalization and fundamentalism.

Abstract This paper focuses on developments of the concept of humanitarian intervention through the prism of theories of International Relations. Humanitarian intervention as a rule is a difficult experiment for the international community which is mainly based on principals of sovereignty, non–intervention and not to use of force.  With the globalization of human rights and paying special attention to prohibition of genocide, torture and breach of basic human rights, this humanitarian principal is in conflict with the principals of sovereignty and non– intervention. In the mean time, this concept has experienced a deep change prior to and after the Cold War era. Here, first the concept of intervention is addressed with using the theories of Realism and Liberalism. Then, while using the theory of Constructivism, the concept of humanitarian intervention, as a normative, value-based and international rule is discussed and finally the development of the concept of humanitarian intervention is illustrated, as a whole, in International Relations.

Abstract International relations field is crafted to study interactions among the states and to explain and to predict their conducts. Perhaps this is the reason why some have described international relations theory as the theory of relations among the states. What is discussed in international relations includes a wide range of varying subjects comprising of the states’ foreign policies within the international system, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multinational companies, proliferation of nuclear weapons, environmental questions, nationalism, international political economy and issues related to economic development and human rights all of which have a bearing on the state.   The state, if not as the single actor rather as one of the most important concepts in international relations, possesses a critical status in the discipline’s theories, and it has passed considerable transformations. All of the international relations theories have dealt with the subject and each of them presents its particular outlook on the nature, domain, range of activity and power of the state,Considering the fundamental assumptions of each of the international relations theories, this article examines the concept of state and its change in a variety of theories in this discipline.