حسن حسینی

The social contract has been about rights and responsibilities in human societies. Facebook and its role in manufacturing and sustaining a global social contract, a new “we” is clearly one of the research areas that needs more attention. A new “we” is coming of age in the new age of connectivity and communication with a new outlook toward responsibility and rights at individual and collective levels. Facebook purports to build a new world based on connection and communication which is based on progress and prosperity. However, a fundamental factor and feature of Facebook that needs attention and more research is that people and users are becoming increasingly lonely, separated and independent from each other in this process while connecting and communicating with one another. This new social contract and “we” thus have the new features of the relationship between the human agency and his/her social structures. Cyberspace is the product of human agency and clearly creates and sustains a specific social structure. This research seeks to study the relationship between human agency, changing technical tools of communication and connection and emerging and evolving social structures and social contracts. Bandura’s “social cognitive theory” (2006) rejects a conflict and dichotomy between agency and social structure. As agency helps to build new social structures after destroying the old ones these new structures create and sustain a new social contract and “we” with a new sense of responsibility, obligations, and rights.

The relationship between ethnic and faith communities in the United States and domestic forces relating to a converging and diverging social contract on the one hand, and US foreign, security and military policies in national, regional and global contexts on the other hand, constitutes the key focus of this paper and the ongoing research upon which it is based. Theories related to American ethnicity provide the theoretical framework for the discussion. These include Assimilationism, Ethnic Pluralism and Ethnic Conflict Theory. These theories help explain the prevalent narratives and assumptions concerning Muslims in the US. Ethnic and faith communities and groups have at times played significant and important roles in American national security and foreign policy. The power and influence of some ethnic and faith communities living inside the United States in relation to national security and foreign policies is well documented. These groups are overtly and covertly lobbying for national and foreign policy goals, creating a nexus and axis between domestic and foreign and national security policies. In the 21 century and in the post 9-11 world, the US administration’s focus, lobbying and influence in ethnic and faith communities living inside the US in the service of its foreign, military and national security policies has been overlooked. Ethnic and faith communities in this new era and environment are at the center and core of this relationship.

It has been argued and stated that the 21st century is America's Pacific Century, the century or millennium of Asia, and century or era of China, the inevitable superpower. This paper explains the essence of the new changes when the Pivot Policy was announced by President Obama in 2011. The main question discussed is therefore the following: ‘Why (and how) did President Obama adopt (and implement) the Pivot to Asia policy in 2011?’ One probable answer to this question is that President Obama intended to prevent China’s hegemony in East Asia through the Pivot Policy; however, China’s hegemony was carried out by economic and military levers. The theory applied is Joseph Nye’s “Liberal Realism,” because the Pivot as a question of foreign policy is considered to be part of Realism and Liberalism simultaneously, and can be used for analysis at both global and domestic levels. The methodology used in this research is a mix methodology of Qualitative Content Analysis and Case study. The “Pivot” or “Rebalance” to Asia is a policy based on significant changes such as the rise of China and the US relative decline, at global and domestic levels, respectively. The Pivot is a regional coherent strategy from the Indian ocean to the Americas, a strategy of cooperation and competition toward China, implemented through smart leadership, rather than hegemony by economic and military tools like modern alliances, partnerships and institutions in order to prevent “China’s hegemony” and lead it to a responsible emerging power when in the half of the millennium, 2050, it reaches its peak of progress. The U.S. tries to maintain its worldwide leadership status up to the 22th century through the implementation of the Pivot Policy in 2011.

When the Nation of Islam was first established in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad, it managed to attract a segment of African Americans and persuade them to convert to Islam as taught by the organization. Despite the fact that the Nation of Islam has walked through a path of modifications and controversies, to this date it continues to attract African Americans in the United States. In fact, a significant number of well-known African Americans converted to Islam through the Nation of Islam. Drawing from Jowett’s neutral definitions of propaganda, this paper employs Jowett and O’Donnell’s 10-step propaganda analysis to examine how the Islamic Republic of Iran is presented in the rhetoric of the Nation of Islam. A study of the rhetoric of the Nation of Islam produced on the Islamic Republic of Iran as presented in the organization’s most important outlet, the Finalcall.com, shows that the NOI utilizes resonance, opinion leaders, and particular language in order to maximize the effect of its propaganda regarding Iran on its target audience and to reinforce ideological, emotional closeness with the Iranian nation.

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.

Militarization is perceived as the intentions of the military to intervene and overcome civilian procedures. The tendency for militarism generates from the military’s ambition to be dominant over procedures not commonly perceived as military. It is described as an effort “to make people accept and love war, and see it as ‘normal’” (Lutz, 2009a, in Bickford, 2015) and is usually associated with high military expenditures. On the other hand, the emergence of cyberspace has opened new capacities and paradigmatic frameworks for conceptualization of sociopolitical phenomena. The present article is concerned with the US use of Stuxnet against Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2010. While being a cyber-tool in the US hostile foreign policy against Iran, the attack is discussed in the related literature as an act of cyber-war. This article argues that besides marking a cyber-tool in the US foreign policy against Iran, the attack was part of a long term militarization process in the US cyber strategy. Relying on dual-spacization’s assumptions of physical-virtual reality and using theory-testing process-tracing as the research method, this article concludes that the militarization process whereby Stuxnet was used as an alternative to kinetic attack on Iran, dual-spacized the nature of war.

Advancements in technology and the pervasive influence of internet and social media on individuals have propelled societies into post-truth era. This epoch is characterized by distinct features that have brought about significant changes in both societal dynamics and communication methods. Notably, the emergence and proliferation of social media and internet have played a key role in shaping and exacerbating these changes. Given that information dissemination and communication via internet and social media platforms now constitute a substantial component of contemporary public diplomacy practices, the realms of public diplomacy and post-truth share commonalities in terms of platforms used, target audience, and content delivered to them. Consequently, alterations in these factors within the post-truth era have a discernible impact on the field of public diplomacy. This study aims to investigate and analyze this impact, using grounded theory method to propose a novel analytical model for assessing public diplomacy activities within the framework of post-truth era. An examination of how these factors are applied in the realm of public diplomacy reveals a notable shift in policies and practices, from traditional objective of cultivating a positive image, towards a more assertive approach. This study introduces this new approach as a theoretical framework, termed "Antagonistic Public Diplomacy".

Regional Order and Maximum Pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran, an American NarrativeAbstractOver time, various foreign policy and International Relations scholars have offered different themes and arguments on foreign policy. The necessity to review these themes and definitions are due to the continuity of foreign policy as a continuum, in which foreign policy and its different terms take shape and are formed. This study conducts a research on an American perspective of the maximum pressure campaign against Iran, which was a new term and policy enforced by the Trump administration. It reviews different tools of American statecraft and argues that the maximum pressure campaign was a multilayered hybrid warfare with repercussions. In this regard, historically, the American security arrangement in Western Asia has undergone various stages. In the 1970s it was based on the Twin Pillars of Nixon while later on it was based on confrontation which was adopted under different terms such as dual containment and containment. In this study through a contextual analysis it is deducted that the campaign against Iran was an American example of multi-layered hybrid warfare. In addition, it is argued that this multi-layered hybrid warfare created an unstable region. This development alongside the American pivot to Asia has created a regional arrangement which involves great power competition and is inclined towards Chinese and Russian intervention and mediation. Thus an increased third party foothold and a destabilized regional order are the outcomes of the maximum campaign, which ostensibly contradict the American pivot to Asia.