This paper assesses the political nature of reconstruction in Lebanon in the wake of the 33-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006. It illustrates the extent to which Arab and Gulf States assumed a major role in the reconstruction effort that followed the fighting. A significant competitive dynamic attached itself to the reconstruction of Lebanon, with external actors attemp...

Numerous foreign architects and researchers came to Iran from European countries in the first half of the contemporary century to carry out various activities. One of these figures was André Godard, whose cultural and research activities are of special importance in terms of variety and effectiveness. The present study hence aims to discuss the cultural and historical backgrounds that made it p...

Exposure and adoption of opinions in social networks are important questions in education, business, and government. We describe a novel application of pervasive computing based on using mobile phone sensors to measure and model the face-to-face interactions and subsequent opinion changes amongst undergraduates, during the 2008 US presidential election campaign. We find that self-reported polit...

This paper explores a paradox in the participation of disadvantaged youth in El Alto, Bolivia, in local processes and activities: although they are highly organized and active in social and cultural groups, they fail to involve themselves in the local political system. These young people, most of them the children of indigenous Aymara migrants from rural areas, are marginalized within mainstrea...

OBJECTIVES Civic participation, that which directly influences important decisions in our personal lives, is considered necessary for developing a society. We hypothesized that civic participation might be related to self-rated health status. METHODS We constructed a multi-level analysis using data from the World Value Survey (44 countries, n=50 859). RESULTS People who participated in voti...

using virtual social media and networks widely and relations based on electronic communication have transformed political and social activities in recent decades. the current essay aims to review the effects of virtual social media on the field of politics in iran. therefore, this essay propounds the questions: “how has the virtual social media caused transformation on the field of politics in ...

using virtual social media and networks widely and relations based on electronic communication have transformed political and social activities in recent decades. through this, in this essay we are going to review the effects of virtual social media on the field of politics in iran. therefore, this essay propounds the question that how has the virtual social media caused transformation on the f...

among the main factors of friendly commercial and political relations between safavid iran and india were reciprocal needs and policies of safavid kings concerning trade development. thus, various regions of iran, especially isfahan, had became a good market for indian goods. isfahan as a capital of safavid state was a centre of commercial activities of such indians as baniyans, multanians, and...

in british india, moslems according to political & social conditions began cultural activities, especially the thinkers established institutions for islamic education. among the first islamic schools in the midle of 19th century, dar ul-ulum of deobands has a special position.its founders has used the new system of instruction, but they insisted on the old islamic books for instruction. also th...

Consensual and Conflictual Democratization We study the process of endogenous democratization from inefficient oligarchic systems in an economy where heterogeneous individuals can get involved in predation activities. The features of democracies are shown to be crucially related to the conditions under which democratization initially takes place. The political regime and the extent of redistrib...