Occidental Studies

Abstract The European Unionhas faced many challenges in recent years such as Brexit. There have been various analyses about the UK parliament's decision to leave European Union (Brexit) since the referendum of 2016. Most analyses emphasize on the consequences of inequalities arising from political economics, globalization, European integration and the problem of migrants. But this study believes that the advent of neo-nationalism in Britain has something to do with the Brexit. Historical roots and cultural and identity heritages are essential variables in Brexit, which most analyses ignore them. This paper deals with the supposition of neo-nationalism in the UK and based on this assumption answers this question: Which factors have an effect on the advent of neo-nationalism supposition in the UK? The hypothesis this study tries to make it intersubjective is that economic crises, immigration and social and economic gaps arising from globalization, having highlighted the identity bonds and historical – cultural heritage among social forces, lead to the advent of neo-nationalism in Europe and the representation of it against unionism. The method used in this paper involves explanation of neo-nationalism and then clarifying the factors leading to the supposition of nationalism in the UK.

Abstract "Globalization" has transformed many of the key traditional concepts of politics. One of these concepts is "democracy". Given the changes that have taken place in the age of globalization, Held and Habermas have tried to replace the models of "cosmopolitan democracy" and "Deliberative democracy" with liberal democracy respectively. The purpose of this paper is to show the efforts of Habermas and Held to replace their proposed model with the model of liberal democracy. Habermas describes his proposed model of democracy by relying on the three systems of "government", "economy" and "the lifeword". But Held does this by rebuilding the current world order. The findings of this article indicate that the efforts of both thinkers to achieve the desired goal have not been successful. The main reason for this failure is the conservatism of Held's intellectual structure, and consequently desire to maintain the status quo on the one hand, and Habermas' overly optimistic view of consensus and rationalism on the other. This article is descriptive-analytical in terms of method and content, and the required data has been obtained through library methods.

Abstract The current global economic governance is dominated by the ideology of neoliberalism and contemporary globalization has been driven by neoliberal ideas. Neoliberalism has been severely criticized from different types of perspectives. In this article, the question is related to the major devastating consequences of neoliberalism from perspectives of critical theory. This article argues that neoliberal capitalism has expanded the relationships based on domination and repression in the current world.

Abstract Islamic Civilization is a subject with great importance, not only concerned with the identity of the Islamic world but also can be an effective factor in establishing it in the time when the Western Civilization beholds nothing equal to itself. But finding ups and downs occurred in the Western Civilization and how important this ups and downs is, are problems that can be a subject for research. Besides, in the discussion of the scientific and social developments in the human history, usually three periods are considered as criterions, that are Hellenic Ages, Middle Ages, and New Age; but this historical division includes mostly the scientific and social history of Europe and the West. This article discusses scientifically how to consider certain periods for the Islamic Civilization as well as its ups and downs during five great historical changes from various points of view. Two of these five periods studied in this article are the decadence and three of them are the exaltation of the Islamic civilization. Now we are in the third period of exaltation and the fifth step of development of the Islamic civilization. It can be a multilateral critical and comparative look at the history and development of the Islamic Civilization as compared with those of the Western Civilization.

Abstract Though democracy enjoys such a lofty status in the contemporary world that many people think of it as a certain and evident thing, theory of democracy and its standards have been faced by challenging critiques. The main origin of critical approach towards democracy should be sought for in the ancient Greece time. As a matter of fact, since the very beginning in the ancient time, the nature of democracy have been faced by problems and crises by which democracies in our time are faced as well. Brief rereading of some critical considerations concerning democracy in an analytic-descriptive methodology and explanation of challenges facing it are the main objective of the present article. According to the findings of the present research, cognitive interaction between equality and liberty, two conflicting dimensions of democracy, democracy puzzle, and the phenomenon of globalization are the main challenges by which the theory of democracy is faced.