Indian-Indonesian

Development in the soviet union

Soviet policy

Contemporary Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia

The west asian crisis of 1967

A dialogue between established International Relations theory and global governance literature may promote a novel synthetic framework for understanding the "Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT). The author wishes to explore and develop a new security studies perspective which will restate and reinterpret George W. Bush's GWOT. The argument promoted here centres around the claim that in its GWOT the USA has engaged in the creation of an under-researched form of global governance, hegemonic governance, by which the hegemon persuades and coerces states across the globe to cooperate in the battle against sub-state terrorism. This requires a new understanding of global governance, as usually the main strand of global governance literature theorises and describes global governance as heterarchic, with equal partners interacting to order their common affairs (Miura 2004; McGrew 2000).1 The main purpose of this study is to challenge this particular assertion.[From author's introduction].

In this research the law making power of the Iranian parliament is studied at two levels: Firstly, the power of the parliament according to the Constitution is explored. Secondly its power in real politics is analysed. It is shown that the law making power of the parliament as an elected institution can be limited by the unelected institutions which are enshrined in the Constitution. Also the political composition of the elected institutions (parliament and executive) whether they are Conservative-dominated or Reformist-dominated, can define the actual law making power of the parliament. It is concluded that the law making power of the parliament oscillates on a spectrum: at one end there is a weak law making legislature and at the other end one can see a policy influencing legislature. The main content of the chapters is as follows: The first chapter is dedicated to introduction where the research questions and thesis methodology is explained. In the second chapter the most important literature, especially that which considers the external and internal variables and typology of legislatures, is reviewed. In the third chapter the historical evolution of the Iranian Parliament in the Qajar, First and Second Pahlavi Eras is briefly discussed. The fourth chapter is dedicated to the Iranian parliament in the Islamic Republic Era. The key concepts which can explain the logic of the distribution of power within the Iranian Constitution, the relationship of the parliament to the executive power (elected institution) and other power centres ( unelected institutions), and the type of the political regime on the basis of the amended Constitution of 1989, is explained. Theoretical propositions are tested in chapter five. The Sixth and Seventh terms of the parliament, where the political composition changed fundamentally from one to the other, are chosen for case study and their law making power during the budget process analysed. The dichotomy of elected and unelected institutions is applied to the case in this chapter. Then the contribution of the elected and unelected institutions during the budget process is explained. The next part of this chapter considers the Sixth Majlis and its political context in general. The Majlis and executive interactions and the interaction of these two elected institutions with the Guardian Council and Expediency Council especially during the budget process, are analysed. The same approach is deployed for the Seventh Majlis which in terms of political composition was in stark contrast to the Sixth Majlis. It is shown how the political composition of the elected and unelected institutions can increase or decrease considerably the law making power of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The overall conclusion of the thesis is provided in chapter six.

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The new prominence of authoritarianism ushered in a series of new studies that seek to explain the reasons behind the longevity of these regimes. An integral part of these studies is that the institutional arrangements contributed to the survival of autocrats and the maintenance of authoritarian regimes. In particular, they recently began considering the dark side of nominally democratic institutions under authoritarian regimes such as legislatures arguing that they predominantly serve as the means of regime survival. Given these facts, the overall goal of this study is to produce an understanding of the role of parliaments in the survival of authoritarian regimes by focusing on their institutional capacity and related performance. Using the Iranian parliament, Majles, as a case study, the major point of contention in this study are the conditions under which Majles contributed to the resilience of post-revolutionary Iranian regimes. Inspired by the legislative institutionalization approach, three main characteristics are identified to explain the authoritarian legislatures: subordination as opposed to autonomy, exclusiveness as opposed to representativeness and secrecy as opposed to deliberativeness. With respect to these criteria, it is demonstrated that Majles is marked as a subordinated institution, caught between powerful and influential formal and informal institutions. Majles also fell short of meeting the representativeness and deliberativeness identified as decisive criteria in distinguishing authoritarian from democratic legislatures. With respect to the Majles performance, it is shown that Majles has been at the centre of the regime co-optation strategies since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution to encapsulate the loyal oppositions and to exclude those were regarded as outsiders. Majles also acted as the main agent of manipulation of political institutions through its law making function and by this contributed to the stability of the Islamic Republic.

The study seeks to understand the nature and development of the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) in peacekeeping using the case of the peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) between 2003 and 2008. The EU deployment in 2003 of an Interim Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF) in DR Congo represented an important shift in the role of regional organisations, as it was deployed outside its geographical setting for peacekeeping reasons. Furthermore, the co-deployment of EU and UN forces highlighted the changing pattern in peacekeeping, as regional organisations were starting to play an important role in burden sharing with the UN, thereby enhancing the notion of effective multilateralism. However the seemingly positive rhetoric emanating from the EU and UN about the partnership did not necessarily reflect the reality of the relationship. Fundamental to the study are issues concerning the involvement of regional actors outside their geographical spheres. Key questions are raised regarding the motives of regional organisations and the UN. Such questions concern, for instance, the motives behind the UN calling for EU involvement in DR Congo (at the expense of the African Union and nations) and factors that persuaded the EU to answer the call. The dynamics of the EU-UN cooperation are analysed from a political and operational dimension. Key components of the operational cooperation are essentially command and control, logistics and communication. The political cooperation components include the course taken by actors while using the structures set up to aid the partnership and the already existing departments within both organisations that facilitated the initial interaction. Further questions arise concerning cooperation between the UN and EU from the political and operational level. These include questions concerning the informal and formal mechanisms put into place to resolve the divergences between the missions. In addition, perceptions of the recipient people and the neighbouring states are examined in order to assess if this partnership is working or not. The results of the research which entailed a number of interviews and an analysis of primary and secondary data show that the motives of the EU and UN, plus the dynamics of their cooperation can be analysed in a multi-layered paradigm involving the following levels of interaction: i) Operational level — MONUC and EUFOR RD Congo, IEMF, EUPOL and EUSEC ii) Political level — local and national actors iii) Political level — regional and international actors. For instance, from an operational perspective the UN considered EU deployment as suitable especially for the provision of resources. The EU on the other hand viewed the deployment in DR Congo as an opportunity to become a global actor especially in the aftermath of the fallout from the US and its allies’ invasion of Iraq. The local, national and regional viewed the motivation for the involvement of the EU alongside the UN with suspicion. This was mainly based on the fact that key players like Belgium and France had vested interests in the DR Congo. There was dissatisfaction regarding the marginal military role given to the regional and continental powers yet the conflict was in their backyard. The nature of the path of the cooperation, especially from an operational perspective, was not smooth. This can be attributed to the different organisational cultures and motivations between the organisations. The internal dynamics of individual organisations played a role in determining the level of cooperation between the two organisations. In light of the above, the research came to several conclusions which included the fact that, due to the complex motives and differing aims of the actors, cooperation at the political level does not necessarily dovetail with cooperation at the operational level. Although the organisations have set up a system of collaboration through the declarations of 2003 and 2007, it has not been fully utilized. National and organisational interests and organisational culture among others can hinder cooperation. Nevertheless, despite a divide between the political and operational aspects of the missions, actors in the field have found ways of addressing operational problems, though significant issues remain concerning the viability of the methods used to address them in the long run.