Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Political Science, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza Branch, Iran (corresponding author)
2
Department of Political Science, Isfahan-Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
Introduction:
Revolutions have always been in danger of "restoration". This issue has also been raised about the Iranian revolution. From the very beginning days of the victory of the revolution, the monarchists had created an organization abroad with the desire to return the monarchy and started their conspiracies and crimes against the Iranian nation and the Islamic revolution. The royalists and their supporters, with the help of Western governments and some of their politicians, with the tactics of media diplomacy, and to overcome the discourse of the revolution, through the launch of dozens of sites and satellite networks and the cooperation of television channels, such as ManoTo, tried to revive the monarchy project. But the project of restoring the Sultanate has not only been unsuccessful so far, but sociological evidence (such as the hashtag "you are my lawyer") has also shown that it will not be successful in the future either. In this regard, this research will address the main question of why the media diplomacy tactic has failed in the West's soft war against the Islamic Republic.
Methodology:
The theoretical framework of the article is based on the investigation of the evolution in political culture. Political culture has been defined as follows: patterns of orientation towards political issues, such as parties, courts, the constitution and the history of the state. Orientation means having talent and readiness for political action, which factors such as tradition, historical memories, motivations, norms, feelings, emotions and symbols determine these actions. Orientations can be divided into different types: cognitive orientations, which consist of knowledge and awareness of political issues; emotional orientations, that is, emotions and feelings about political issues; and value orientations, meaning judgments about political issues.
The research on political culture evaluates four criteria: (1) How much does a person know about the nation, the political system in its general sense, history, size and position, power, the characteristics of the constitution and things like these? What are the characteristics of his emotions? What are his more or less noticed beliefs and judgments about them? (2) What knowledge does he have about the constructions and roles of different political elites and the proposed political policies that exist in the emerging policy-making process? What are his feelings and beliefs about these constructions, leaders and proposed political policies? (3) What knowledge does it have about the downstream flow of policy implementation, structures, people, and decisions involved in these processes? What are his feelings and beliefs about them? (4) How does he identify himself as a member of the political system? What does it know about the rights, powers, obligations and strategies related to access to the point of influence?
Discuss:
Iran's political culture before the revolution was authoritarian, which was rooted in the patrimonial power structure. The Islamic revolution caused a change in the political culture. The most important factors that caused the transformation in Iran's political culture after the revolution are: the change in the power structure from the monarchy to the republic; the number of elected positions (representatives of parliament, leadership experts, presidency, city council, and the like); Holding multiple elections (once a year on average); the growth of civil parties and institutions; The formation of the public sphere that has enabled dialogue between citizens and elites (especially with the emergence of social networks that have provided a good technological tool for criticism and dialogue). Therefore, with the change in the political culture of Iranian society, the possibility of returning and restoring the monarchy has been lost forever. Therefore, the media actions of royalists for the project of reviving the monarchy could not be successful in principle due to the change of social contexts. Therefore, actions such as media campaigns; Campaign no to mandatory hijab; And the I advocate hashtag basically failed. The media war to overcome the discourse of the Islamic revolution could not be successful, because the political culture of the society was no longer receptive to the monarchy.
Final result:
Political culture determines the emotional-cognitive basis of how citizens relate to the government. The authoritarian culture of the Pahlavi era, which was the legacy of long centuries of oppressive monarchies in Iran, had created a vertical and authoritarian power structure that did not allow the society to act and participate in politics. This construction of power followed politics in a closed circle and basically promoted a limited political culture. The Islamic revolution changed the political culture of Iran. With the transformation in the political culture, the possibility of reviving the monarchy was lost forever. For this reason, the project of reviving the monarchy, which was followed by the tactic of media diplomacy, could not be successful, because basically the social platforms are no longer receptive to the monarchy and the construction of authoritarian power.
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