Contemporary Research on the Islamic Revolution

Mourning of Seyyed al-Shohda (AS) is one of the ritual-religious ceremonies of Shiites that were held in various historical periods. With the coming of the Pahlavi government, the restriction of Seyyed al-Shahada's mourning was part of a wider effort to secularize and modernize Iranian society, which led to conflict and challenges with the clergy and the people. Isfahan is the main area of ​​research due to the concentration of great Shia scholars and the formation of the seminary there. Descriptive-analytical research method based on documentary-library sources has been developed with a focus on Isfahan. The main question in the research is, what policies did the Pahlavi government (1304-1357 A.H.) undertake in holding religious ceremonies in Isfahan and what was the reaction of popular groups towards it? The results of the research show that the Pahlavi government applied policies in holding the mourning ceremony of Sayyid al-Shohada as a tool for the government to establish its authority and shape social behavior according to its political program and with measures such as monitoring the execution of the mourning ceremony, the need to control and Taking care of preachers and clerics, preventing the presence of Europeans in mourning ceremonies, publishing advertisements and announcements, and verifying the records of those who pray for prayer by the city police were able to implement some restrictions on the celebration of Seyyed al-Shahada, but still could not completely prevent the celebration of mourning.

This research conducts a comparative study of the nature of violence in three significant contemporary revolutions: the 1789 French Revolution, the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. These revolutions are recognized as pivotal moments in the political and social history of each country as well as in global history. The aim of this research is to analyze the causes and consequences of violence in these three historical events. The study employs a qualitative method and a descriptive-analytical approach, identifying patterns of violence and the social, economic, and political contexts through an in-depth examination of each revolution. The findings reveal that in the French Revolution, violence was utilized as an effective tool for achieving social and political change, with the synergy among social classes contributing to its intensification. In the Russian Revolution, specific historical conditions, particularly the aftermath of World War I and widespread poverty, led to increased violence and the outbreak of civil war. In contrast, the Iranian Revolution demonstrates a different approach, where protesters sought to achieve social change through non-violent strategies. Ultimately, this research highlights that social, economic, and political factors, especially feelings of deprivation and the ability to mobilize resources, have direct impacts on the nature of violence and revolutionary outcomes, and can contribute to a better understanding of contemporary social transformations.

In today's era, the issue of Palestine is considered as one of the most important political and social issues in the world. The positions and actions of different countries and their leaders regarding this crisis can have profound effects on public opinion and international interactions. Ayatollah Khamenei's letter to the students who support the Palestinian people in the universities of the United States of America, as a political and social text, contains significant points regarding speech acts and the way of expressing positions related to the Palestinian issue.This research aims to analyze the speech acts in the letter of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to the American students with descriptive and analytical method and to answer the questions that the Leader of the Revolution used more direct and indirect speech acts and the reason for this. What are the abundances? The findings of the research show that most of the direct speech action is related to the declarative actions and most of the indirect speech action is related to the persuasive action. The results of the research show that the leader of the revolution is trying to explain and explain the existing conditions to the students according to historical statements and finally to encourage them to persevere with divine promises.

With the expansion of natural sciences from the 15th century and the stagnation of the humanities in the 18th and 19th centuries, debates emerged among scholars regarding whether the humanities follow the rules of natural sciences or have their own distinct principles. Some thinkers believed that if the humanities adhered to the methodologies of natural sciences, they would be similar to them; others believed that the humanities have their own specific methods. The latter group strove to establish the foundations for legitimizing the humanities. In Iran society, influenced both by philosophical and methodological debates in academic circles and by the ideological and intellectual climate following the intellectual situation of Iran society, various interpretations of the humanities emerged. Among the Iranian thinkers who theorized about the humanities, influenced by these conditions, are Reza Davari Ardakani and Abdulkarim Soroush. The present study aims to examine the concept and methodology of the humanities in the thoughts of Iranian thinkers, focusing on the opinions and ideas of Reza Davari Ardakani and Abdulkarim Soroush. Reza Davari Ardakani and Abdulkarim Soroush, on one hand, were influenced by the intellectual and methodological debates of scientism and hermeneutics in international academic circles and, on the other hand, by the intellectual atmosphere of Iran society, engaged with the subject of the humanities. Reza Davari Ardakani regards the humanities as a product of the crisis of Western modernity, while Abdulkarim Soroush considers humanity method to be the same as that of natural sciences and understands it based on this method.

The introduction of modernity into Iranian society has been the source of profound social, cultural, and political transformations. The question of the consequences of modernity on Iranian society remains an unfinished concern. In this context, cinema has played a significant role as one of the main carriers of modernity in transferring Western values to Iranian society. From the moment cinema entered Iran, it served nationalism, modernity, and Westernization. Undoubtedly, when cinema entered the country, Iranian society was not one in a vacuum but was filled with a glorious history and deep-rooted Islamic and Iranian traditions. During the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, Iranian cinema, supported by the Pahlavi regime, became a tool for advancing the modernization of Iranian society. The detrimental consequences of authoritative modernization and the use of cinema as a modernization tool left profound negative impacts on the structure of Islamic-Iranian identity. In this regard, the present research aims to dissect the role of cinema as a tool for modernization during the Pahlavi II era (1940-1978 AD/1320-1357 SH) using documentary methods and interviews. The central question of this research is how cinema was employed by the Pahlavi government to advance modernism in Iran. In response, it can be said that the political elites of the Pahlavi regime consciously used the power of cinema as a tool to transfer Western culture, weaken Islamic-Iranian traditions, present a modern image of Iranian society, blur public-private boundaries, promote ideology, and gain political legitimacy while constructing a unified nation-state.

Following the end of the Cold War, the new world order was defined in terms of cooperation patterns in an interdependent world, even in the form of increasing globalization. However, contrary to what was proposed in theory, the practical realm and the operational arena of the world witnessed increasing competition and endless conflicts, confronting countries with emergent properties in the strategic environment. The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the countries that have been severely affected by such emergent properties and requires the create of a new strategic environment, a subject that has rendered international relations literature highly inefficient in both theoretical and applied domains, failing to address the strategic considerations of countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, in such a situation. In this regard, the question arises: ‘What are the strategic implications commensurate with the intensification and increase of regional and international conflicts?’ The answer is that regarding the emergence of a network of emergent conflicts that are sensitively dependent, the strategic decisions and necessities of countries will be influenced by this network. The present study examines the hypothesis by applying the abduction method and based on a complexity-chaos approach. The findings indicated that the Islamic Republic of Iran should formulate policies based on increasing complexity, enduring conflicts, and immediate deterrence by employing power diversity, and avoid any restriction of power elements and disruption in scientific-technological development. Otherwise, it may suffer an irreparable power gap with other actors, as in the past two centuries, and then face an existential threat.