The fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 is the one of the most important events in the history of Iran-Iraq relations. Prior to the US-led invasion, Iran and Iraq were by no means friends and fought each other bitterly for eight years in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. The enmity continued throughout the following decade, as Iran and Iraq developed intimate relationships with each others' dissidents and exiles. When Coalition forces finally toppled Saddam Hussein's government on April 9, 2003, the slate was cleared for Shi'ites and Kurds to assume power for the first time in Iraq's 80 year history. For leadership in the new Iraq, Shi'ites and Kurds turned to the organizations that struggled against the Ba'athists. Thus, Iran's Iraqi allies were able to fill Baghdad's power vacuum through elections and, at times, by force. As a result of regime change, Iran-Iraq relations have improved considerably. Despite some clear progress though, several contentious issues still remain.

Background Stigma and discrimination because of medical conditions is a global phenomenon. Epilepsy and mental illness belong to the most stigmatizing disorders world-wide. Culture, religion, education, life-style influences the perception of stigma. There are two aspects of stigma of special interest for this thesis; internalized stigma, which is the perception of a person suffering from a condition and the public perception of this disorder. This study investigates both aspects of stigma because of mental illness and epilepsy. Internalized stigma of mental illness and epilepsy are also studied in Umea, Sweden, with the same instrument as in Iran in order to look at the cultural influence. Methods Paper 1 and 2 on internalized stigma because of mental disorders and epilepsy in Tehran: These studies are cross-sectional with 138 persons with mental illness recruited from three different hospitals in Tehran and 130 persons with epilepsy from one neurologic clinic in Tehran and the Iran epilepsy association. Internalized stigma because of mental illness was measured using ISMI (Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness) questionnaire and because of epilepsy with the same instrument adapted for epilepsy (ISEP). ISMI/ISEP contains 29 items measured by a 4-point Likert scale. An open-ended question about the experiences of discrimination was added. Paper 3 and 4 on public attitudes towards mental disorders and epilepsy in Tehran: These two studies were performed with 800 individuals randomly chosen from households in four districts of Iran (north, south, east and west). In Paper 3 on attitudes and knowledge of mental illness a modified version of a questionnaire developed for the World Association program to reduce discrimination and stigma because of schizophrenia was used. In Paper 4 on awareness of and attitudes towards epilepsy a questionnaire originally developed by Caveness and Gallup in United States as early as 1949 was used and since used in many studies all over the world. Paper 5 and 6 comparing internalized stigma because of mental disorders and epilepsy in Tehran and Umea: These two studies included patients suffering from mental disorders (N=163) and epilepsy (N=93) recruited from the university hospital in Umea, Sweden. The same questions as used in Paper 1 and 2 were applied. Results The experience of stigma because of mental disorders was high in the Iranian sample. The Swedish sample generally reported lower levels of experienced stigma than the Iranian except for items covering self-blame and feelings of alienation. As regards epilepsy the Iranian sample reported quite a high level of experienced stigma compared to the Swedish sample. Generally the patients with epilepsy reported lower levels of experienced stigma compared to patients with mental illness in the two settings. Attitudes towards mentally ill persons in Tehran were at the same levels as in western high income countries. The knowledge about and attitudes towards persons with epilepsy was also generally at the same level as found in other European studies expect for a much lower acceptance as regards accepting a person with epilepsy to marry someone in the family. Conclusion Stigma because of mental illness and epilepsy is a reality even in Iran, which is an Islamic setting in spite of the teachings of the Koran to show mercy with people who suffer from different ailments and rather well developed health services. The levels of experienced stigma is higher in Iran compared to Sweden, but still there is quite a lot of stigma because of mental illness even in Sweden in spite of several national efforts to reduce stigma. The lower levels of stigma because of epilepsy in both settings and especially in Sweden, is suggested to be the consequence of effective treatments available for epilepsy compared to the less successful treatments available for mental illness. The differences in internalized stigma reported and the public perceptions of stigma because of both mental illness and epilepsy between Iran and Sweden is suggested partly a consequence of the different cultural settings, Sweden being an extremely individualistic society compared to the more collectivistic Iranian society.

This research assessed the effect of religious orientation on experiences of Iranian women in balancing their work and family roles. Based on the proposed relationships among main variables of this study which are religiosity, gender-role ideology, work-family conflict and work-family facilitation, it was also hypothesized that gender-role ideology would mediate the relationships between religiosity and work-family conflict/facilitation. The participants of this study were 221 Iranian female employees working in the Wood and Glue Industry. The results supported some of the developed hypotheses. For instance, they showed that women with stronger religious beliefs felt the extra time spent on work responsibilities would have been better devoted to family roles. Further, the women who indicated that the role of religion is highly significant in their lives experienced less conflict between the behaviors performed at home and those performed at work. The results did not support the hypothesized mediating role of gender-role ideology. / viii, 89 leaves ; 29 cm

Since the end of the Cold War, considerable attention has been paid to "ethnic" or "identitive" conflicts. Some scholars argue that these conflicts tend to draw in 'kin' states who support the belligerent(s) with whom they share identitive affinities. This thesis examines such involvement, based on identitive affinities, in ethnopolitical conflicts. In particular, it analyses the pattern of involvement of one country: Iran. Specifically, it looks at Iran's policy towards five conflicts: Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Iraq, South Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. / This thesis argues that kinship is only a permissive cause of involvement while the presence and scope of involvement are determined by other factors, in the following order: security threats, non-security interests (influence, economic interests), and ideology. Proximity is of great importance as security threats usually emanate from neighbours and not from far-away enemies.

Ce memoire tentera de decrire ce que fut l'ideologie defendue par le Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi d'Iran (1919-1980). Malgre que le Shah n'ait pas lui-meme ecrit ses positions politiques, il adherara a ce systeme de pensee qui pourrait avoir toutes les caracteristiques d'une ideologie. Ce systeme, qui a domine la vie politique iranienne pendant pres de trente ans, est fonde sur trois principes, soit la tradition monarchique iranienne, la constitution de 1906 et la revolution blanche. Ces trois fondements devaient permettre le developpement accelere de l'Iran et qui se traduit par une modernisation de la societe ainsi que par une separation stricte entre l'eglise et de l'etat. L'autorite de l'Islam et du clerge shiite sera alors progressivement evince des affaires publiques durant le regne de Mohammad Reza Shah, laissant la place a une doctrine valorisant a la fois le modernisme, l'occidentalisation et les traditions royales issues de l'Iran ancien. Toutefois ce sera ces memes fondements--constitution, monarchie, revolution blanche--pourtant incompatibles entre eux, qui feront en sorte que ce systeme n'a pu, devenir une ideologie au sens propre du terme.

In recent Muslim history, the Iranian Revolution of 1978/79 has been a watershed event which has had--and continues to have--a significant impact on Muslim societies. Indeed, the Revolution is often perceived as the single most important example in contemporary times of the manner in which Islamism has been utilized as a revolutionary tool. The success of the Revolution in utilizing ideological Islam has had important implications for Pakistan, given the latter's reliance upon Islamism in its public life. This thesis examines editorial response in the Pakistani press to the Iranian Revolution of 1978/79 and analyzes the factors which influenced this reaction. / Pakistan's response to the Iranian Revolution provides a glimpse into the nature of a country coming to terms with itself and its own interpretation of its dominant socio-political ideology. The Revolution highlighted already-existing tensions within the Pakistani national psyche: questions were raised with regard to the ideological direction of the country, its pragmatic concerns for security as well as the role of Islam in the formation of a public identity. The Iranian Revolution, by presenting differing perspectives on some of these issues--though all were framed within the context of the language of Islamism--served to deepen the collective Pakistani soul-searching. The nature of Pakistani response was essentially one of an intricate balancing act amongst competing loyalties, perspectives and imperatives. This response highlighted Pakistan's somewhat tense relationship with itself and its reliance upon Islam as a dominant socio-political ideology. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This qualitative study has been investigating effects on Iranian students who are studying, or recently studied, abroad out from the fact that their home country Iran in current time is being targeted with extensive international sanctions. With these Iranian students as a target group in which their perception of these circumstances has been analyzed and later on concluded in order to see to what the possible effects for citizens outside of a sanctioned state as Iran. As mentioned the research has looked into the personal perceptions of the students and by that taken into consideration private matters and circumstances that in some cases has lead to larger effects than in others. Out of the analyze this research can show a great deal of economic issues and problems for when trying to receive funding in order to cover essential expenses for when being abroad such as; tuition fee, rent, food and clothes and in one case this lead to the termination of studies for one of the students in this group. The conclusion made by the students is that the sanctions are affecting them in an unfair manner, rather than what are the official aims of the sanctions.

Introduction: This paper will analyse Iran’s security situation through the theory of Neorealism as espoused by Kenneth Waltz. In the following study we will apply this theory to the modern international context of the nation state of Iran. We will see what Neorealism tells us about the case study, and what the case study tells us about Neorealism. In this study we will operate on, and further investigate/test, the following structural realist presumptions relevance to the case at hand (Iran's international politial environment): A state of anarchy in the international system. That the principle of rational action in this state system is 'self help'. That the most important way in which states must help themselves is the provision of security. Methodology: How will we apply this Theory? We will begin by attempting to explore an Iranian perspective on the international system, through the study of Iranian history in the international system. We will also explore the modern context in which Iran (presumably) implements this perspective, by breaking down Iran’s modern relations with actors of particular security significance. In doing so, we are attempting to measure the extent to which Iran's experience of the international system resembles the attributes of the system outlined in Waltzian Neorealism, and to investigate how and to what extent this generates insight into understanding the modern dimensions of the Iranian security situation in its international context.

In the aging world of today, more attentions are grabbed towards studies on elderly. New facilities and technologies are emerged to serve to the elderly, maketheir life easier, better and more useful. Having participated in a study on thequality of life of the elderly in Europe, it was aimed to run a similar project toresearch the quality of life of the elderly in a Non-EU country. This was donethrough the research questions “What is the quality of life for them?” and “Howa designer, focused on service design, can improve their quality of life?”The knowledge for the study was obtained from fields Quality of Life of ElderlyPeople, Service Design, Service Design Process, and Qualitative Research. As thekey country for this study, Iran was chosen. Study on the target group in thiscountry was done through Cultural Probes and in analyzing the probes, Processfor Empathy in Design was used. To visualize the results of the target group study,Affinity Diagrams and Personas were drawn.The result was designing a service for the target group, which is presented byConcept Scenario, Storyboards, System Maps and Blueprints. In this concept,called “Virtual Family”, the personas are encouraged to be members of a networkwhich is supported by an organization/community in terms of health, social life,leisure activities and educational programs. This network is forming a virtualfamily regarding the traditional values and ethics which are important for thisage group. Additionally it supports them with entertainment and educationalprograms. Later on, the service concept was evaluated by a number of people inthe same age and social group of the target group. Evaluators found the conceptan excellent complement for mentioned target group who are on the verge oflosing their family and social structure, but the organizational system of the contextcountry should be studied to know if it is planning is practical in that context.

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