Abstract
The main research question is the critical analysis of the policy-making of Iran towards Afghan nationals. This research is multidimensional and has been conducted in a qualitative paradigm. The data and information collection method has been a combination of documentary sources, interviews with experts, ...
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The main research question is the critical analysis of the policy-making of Iran towards Afghan nationals. This research is multidimensional and has been conducted in a qualitative paradigm. The data and information collection method has been a combination of documentary sources, interviews with experts, holding expert panels, expert meetings and obtaining the views of relevant agencies and institutions. Despite facing extensive international sanctions, Iran has been hosting one of the largest migrant populations in the world for nearly five decades. The first step in policy-making is to explain the problem. The long-term presence of Afghan nationals in Iran has overshadowed various aspects of society and has caused numerous challenges and opportunities in the political, cultural, social, security and economic spheres, and it seems that the lack of coherent and forward-looking policymaking in this area can create serious risks.This study, while explaining the various aspects of the migration of Afghan nationals to Iran, presents a 7-stage conceptual model of migration governance as the foundation of policymaking in this area, which includes the pre-migration stage, transit, border management, entry and identification, integration, expulsion and reintegration.
Cultural Studies
MINA HASANI; Ehsan Aqababaee; Ali Ghanbari
Abstract
This article examines how cultural change is represented in Iranian cinema during the 2010s, employing narrative analysis, semiotic inquiry, and Ronald Inglehart’s conceptual framework of value change to investigate these transformations in their narrative, visual, and action‑based dimensions. ...
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This article examines how cultural change is represented in Iranian cinema during the 2010s, employing narrative analysis, semiotic inquiry, and Ronald Inglehart’s conceptual framework of value change to investigate these transformations in their narrative, visual, and action‑based dimensions. The films were selected through purposive sampling, focusing on successful and widely viewed works of the decade. The findings suggest that the cinema of this period constructs a multilayered portrayal of a “partial value transition,” a condition in which weakened social capital, economic instability, and institutional distrust hinder the consolidation of emerging values and place social actors in an ambiguous, in‑between position. Within the narratives, characters are frequently depicted in states of urgency and reactivity, lacking effective agency, while resolutions tend to arise not from collective will but from coincidence, attrition, or external intervention. At the cinematic level, the analysis of narrative structure reveals that the contemporary Iranian protagonist has shifted from the figure of an active reformer to a more vulnerable, cautious agent seeking only minimal sense of safety and dignity. The study concludes that new Iranian cinema not only reflects a crisis of values but also serves as a cultural record of an incomplete, transitional stage of value change .
Sociology
Seyedmostafa Hoseini; Amir Akbari Ghamsari
Abstract
Meritocracy, as a fundamental principle for the equitable distribution of opportunities and resources, faces complex challenges in Iran, rooted in structural inequalities, power structures, and socio-cultural dynamics. Utilizing qualitative thematic meta-analysis, this study examines the findings of ...
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Meritocracy, as a fundamental principle for the equitable distribution of opportunities and resources, faces complex challenges in Iran, rooted in structural inequalities, power structures, and socio-cultural dynamics. Utilizing qualitative thematic meta-analysis, this study examines the findings of 30 domestic articles (2001-2025) to analyze meritocracy through three structural themes: (1) Structural Inequalities, (2) Power Structures, and (3) Socio-Cultural Dynamics. The methodology involved open, axial, and selective coding of both facilitating factors and obstructive barriers, organized at a structural level. Within these 30 articles, 93 macro-level facilitating factors and 103 obstructive barriers were identified.The findings reveal that structural inequalities operate unilaterally and negatively, restricting equal access. Power structures are dualistic in nature, yet obstructive barriers within them are predominant, undermining transparency. Similarly, socio-cultural dynamics exhibit duality, but relationship-centric tendencies are dominant, diminishing the motivation for individual effort. The interaction of barriers across these three themes—particularly those of economic inequality, power concentration, and favoritism (parit-bazi)—creates a negative feedback loop. This loop severely constrains meritocracy and impedes the realization of social justice.
