The epistemology of the concept of civil society in the West and Iranian interpretations.

The article in first part is going to review the conceptual evolution of the civil society in the western political thought. It shows how the changes of dominant discourses in political thought and social transition in the west led to change of the interpretations of civil society. In second part the article illustrates Iranian scholars’ interpretations on the concept of civil society in Khatami’s era. Eventually the article concludes that common sense of civil society in Iran was affected by associational theories on civil society particularly Habermas’s public sphere notion and Cohen and Arato’s definition on the concept

Inter-Disciplinary Education: A Pattern for History and Sociology

Inter-disciplinary studies in the field of social sciences such as history and sociology are unequivocally vital to gaining a more penetrating insight into human behavior. The article commences with a comparison of the concepts of “inter-disciplinary” and “disciplinary”, an explication of Mikhail Bakhtin’s Dialogism, along with an explanation of other learning theories. The article subsequently delineates the method of inter-disciplinary teaching for history and sociology by emphasizing the necessity of inter-disciplinary studies. Key Words: Inter-Disciplinary Studies, Inter-Disciplinary Education, Dialogism and Historical Sociolog

Challenges of national identity in Iran

The current variety of ethnic and cultural differences in Iran is the legacy of the ancient Iranian emperors. The relationship between ethnic identities and national identity may appear in three forms of contrast, simultaneous, and resonator. National identity in the frame-work of nation-state is a modern concept attempts to create national solidarity which may be in conflict with ethnic identity and solidarity. Ethnic and national identities also may coexist peacefully and create a dyadic identity for the people. And finally, ethnic identity may accelerate national solidarity by strengthening national identity. Obviously, all nation-states, by managing ethnic diversity, attempt to avoid tensions among ethnic identities and create parallel relationships or even strengthen relationships among them. This article seeks to explain the existing relationships among ethnic identities and national identity in Iran and the potential threats that may lead to contrast and conflict between ethnic identities and national identity. Accordingly, this article is to explain how it may be possible to develop an equitable strategy to avoid contrast between ethnic and national identities. The first part of the article summarizes concepts and theories that can explain the relationship between ethnic and national identities, while the second part of the article identifies the main threatening factors to positive–parallel or escalating - relationship of ethnic and national identities in Iran. The third part of the article describes the characteristics of an equitable strategy in Iran for managing ethnic diversity that leads to national solidarity

Politics of ethnic participation during Khatami's presidency in Iran (1997-2004)

Political participation is considered the most effective instrument for preserving citizens' freedom and rights in modern governments. Moreover, Political participation, as one of the aspects of social participation plays undoubtedly a prominent role in decreasing discrimination against minorities in the contemporary democratic societies. The reformist administration which governed Iran for eight years (1997-2004) and was established on (ex) president Khatami’s ideas and was headed by him, managed some steps toward promoting democracy in Iran. Beside its nation-wide efforts, the administration had its specific ethnic diversity management which encouraged the ethnic groups’ social as well as political participation. Through analysing the data collected by several in-depth interviews with the Iranian elites, this research minds to explore Khatami’s administration policies in the field of promoting ethnic groups participation. Collected data emphasizes on relative success of the administration achieving its aims

Role of civil society and press development during Khatami’s presidency in Iran

The aim of this thesis is first, to investigate the evolution of the press as a component of civil society during the Khatami presidency, and second, to examine the role of the political system in these evolutions. The research uses Force Field Theory to analyze the relationships between advocate and opponent forces of civil society in Iran‘s political system during the Khatami presidency. The press, as a predominant component of civil society is a selected case in the thesis. The thesis examines the role of the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary in Iran‘s political system in the changes of the press separately. The research is an explanatory qualitative research. The primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary data includes international organization's reports and articles in independent journals the time in Iran. The informants are eleven persons who were chosen from three categories of the informants; journalists, experts, and officials. Likewise, the informants were chosen based on purposive sampling method and the study applied qualitative content analysis for analyzing of the data. The outcomes demonstrate how the balance of political forces in the political system had determined the extent of press development in the Khatami era. While reformist forces in certain political institutions had performed as driving forces in the process of press development, conservative forces and some others were the restraining factor. In addition, the results show that Iran's political system has two sources of legitimacy that led to a dichotomy inside the government and this dichotomy caused the formation of two types of elective and appointive institutions within the system. The dichotomy in the political system, on one hand, offered the potential to shape an authoritarian regime that was a barrier to press development. On the other hand, it presented the potential to form a democratic political structure such as during Khatami‘s era that facilitated development of civil society, especially the press

Criticism in public sphere: the press development in Iran's civil society 1997-2000

From 1997 to 2000 Iran witnessed a flourishing evolution in the printed media. Reformists’ main agenda on civil society predisposed appropriate conditions for the expanding of press in Iran, both in quantity and quality characteristics. This article examines some important changes on the press to show how the press helped to develop critical public sphere in Iran during that time. Research outcomes show that many of the political and intellectual debates that considered as taboos and were not to be discussed at once, were changed to public issues and were criticized by the press in the public sphere of Iran’s society, and this was a great advantage for the Iran's civil society