Research Articles Base: Behavioral Theory

The Relationship of Marketing Practices and Customer Satisfaction of Duty Free Shop in Bahrain

Chapter 1 PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND   Introduction One of the largest service organizations known in the world today are those airline, aviation and airport industries. These industries all over the world are now living in an interesting era.  More and more people have been using these industries for every services and purpose they want and for their travel satisfaction.  The process of change as of the old economy to the new global economy has brought tremendous changes and development to the services being offered.  Part of the changes brought by the competition of these industries globally is the new economics, new market structure, new marketing strategy as well as the new technological structures of each and every industry within the marketing service field.              However, because of the competitive market environment, service industries are now having a hard time to make their business portfolio different from their competitors. It has been noted that the technology that is accessible to every industries has made it simpler to copy each other’s business offerings. Because of this, airport industries and other service industries are having difficulties in differentiating the industry from their competition. In addition, they are also having a hard time to achieve competitive advantage. It is said that one way to achieve this is by providing excellent customer service.             In marketing, the significance of satisfaction has been given consideration. Hence, many marketing strategies and practices are being implemented in order to satisfy the needs of their customers. Principally, the main goal of this proposed study is to conduct an investigation to determine the relationship between marketing practice and customer satisfaction of one of the most identified business venture in airport, i.e. the Duty Free Shop in Bahrain.             The main objective of this research is to determine the relationship of marketing practices of Duty Free Shop in Bahrain and customer satisfaction. The study shall be divided into five chapters in order to provide clarity and coherence on the discussion of the topic. The first part of the study will be discussing the problem uncovered by the researcher and provide ample background on the topic. The chapter shall constitute an introduction to the whole study, the hypothesis, and the statement of the problem in order to present the basis of the study. Moreover, the chapter shall also have a discussion on the scope of its study as well as the significance of the study to society in general and specific effects on individuals. The second chapter shall be discussing the relevance of the study in the existing literature. It shall provide studies on marketing strategies or practices and customer satisfaction and others. After the presentation of the existing related literature, the researcher shall provide a synthesis of the whole chapter in relation to the study. The third part of the study shall be discussing the methods and procedures used in the study. The chapter shall comprise of the presentation of the utilized techniques for data collection and research methodology. Similarly, it shall also contain a discussion on the used techniques in data analysis as well as the tools used to acquire the said data. The fourth chapter shall be an analysis on the tabulated data. After the said tabulation, the data are statistically treated in order to uncover the relationship of the variable involved in the study. With the said data, the chapter seeks to address the statement of the problem noted in the first chapter. The last chapter shall comprise of three sections, the summary of the findings, the conclusions of the study, and the recommendations. With the three portions, the chapter shall be able to address the verification of the hypothesis stated in the initial chapters of the study.   Background of the Study             Each industry is subject to marketing elements which influences the company’s function and performance as a whole. Accordingly, such elements are the one’s attributed in determining whether the company has met their organisation objective and if they are able to satisfy their clients (, 1997). In this regard, there are several approaches which can be considered so as to sustain competitive advantage within the marketing environment. As noted, the context of marketing has been referred to as the vital strategy to achieve the goal of meeting the needs of the customers and satisfies them. In an industry like Duty Free, the company noticeably has to attempt and attained this level of customer satisfying as one approach of staying ahead of the competitive environment and generating revenues (, 1994).             Some marketing strategies give emphasis in the long-term retention and satisfaction of the customers through the provision of products or services that directly suit their needs. While these marketing strategies have been used for various purposes within the customer life cycle, obtaining and maintaining customers remain its prime objectives. Currently, the use of such strategies had increased as businesses give more priority to their markets. In addition, changes in the consumer trends had caused the increased interest of businesses for the marketing strategy. Specifically, customers nowadays prefer their vendors or distributors to act as product consultants – one who would provide assistance while choosing a product in order for them to purchase the one that will give them the most advantage. Customer assistance can also be provided by instructing consumers how a certain product is used or explaining the purpose of the item. Providing this assistance will in turn result to customer satisfaction and loyalty ( 1998). The use of this strategy benefits both the company and the customers – the company obtains greater profit and market growth while the customers are able to acquire the products that fit their standards. In other words, this strategy works well as it promotes a two-way benefit effect.   Accordingly, the ability of the company to meet the needs of the customers is an important aspect of marketing function. The means or alternatives that Kubota will apply should then focus on this. Obtaining customer satisfaction encourages clients to patronize the products produced by the company and even recommend them to others. While this is essential, the alternatives for Kubota should also be implemented to maintain this satisfaction level. This is based on the main principle of efficient marketing function, where customers are not only obtained but maintained as well (,  & , 1998). There are several ways on how organizations can ensure quality operations and increased levels of customer satisfaction. One of which is by means of addressing all customer concerns and taking them seriously. The employees on the other hand, should be empowered to make efficient decisions that will augment customer satisfaction. One way of achieving this is by creating a self-initiative work environment rather than one that is constricted to rules and company policies. Procedures that will ensure quality control should also be enforced during business operations. Wal-Mart is a good example for this aspect; its “Satisfaction Guaranteed” policy helps in ensuring that employees deliver the best services for its customers (, 2000). Although there are numerous studies that provide information regarding marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, there are still limited resources of this analysis in airport industry. Hence, the need to investigate the issue of the relationship of marketing practice with customer satisfaction will be highlighted in this study.   Rationale of the Study Customer satisfaction is among the top priorities of current businesses and organizations. Within the marketing, organizations must consider how individual customer needs can be provided so as to provide high levels of customer satisfaction. Furthermore, organizations must be able to identify their specific customer groups clearly (,  & , 1994). This will help them analyze and provide general and more specific needs of each customer segment. In providing customer satisfaction, the quality of the products and services of businesses must be measured and continually monitored.             It was noted that there are a number of literatures that discussed how customer satisfaction can be achieved. However, there had been limited resources focusing on the relationship of these marketing strategies in achieving customer satisfaction. Considering the existence of many service industries, in the world and Bahrain in particular, it is important that several studies stress this context of assessing the relationship of these contexts By and large, the purpose of this research study is to identify the relationship between the marketing strategy and customer satisfaction in Duty Free shop in Bahrain. The research will specifically identify how the marketing strategy implemented by Duty Free enables them to attain customer satisfaction. In addition, this proposes study will also include the discussion of relevant literature. The outcome of this study will be helpful for different organisation. Furthermore, the purpose of the research is to help management students, marketing managers, and the company to the importance of having an effective marketing strategy. The findings of the study will be able to benefit different organisations in Bahrain. This means that the results of the study will be beneficial to the business scheme since the research will be able to support previous claims that marketing strategies can help improved the performance of an organisation and achieved customer satisfaction. This also suggests that the findings of the research will allow leaders and organization to integrate marketing strategies in handling customers.   Research Aims and Objectives The research study will try to achieve the following aims and objectives. Ø      To identify the fundamental context of marketing strategies and customer satisfaction. Ø      To know which types of marketing strategies do Duty Free Shop use and determine if this is positively significant with customer satisfaction. Ø      To recommend a sound conclusion which supports the outcome of the analysis and literature review gathered.   Research Questions The primary aim of this study is to determine the relationship of the marketing strategy imposed in Duty and satisfaction of their customers. Specifically, the paper tends to respond to the following queries: Ø      Is marketing strategy of Duty Free Shop positively significant with customer satisfaction? Ø      How do customers view the marketing strategy of Duty Free? Ø      In the customers own views, do the marketing strategies used by Duty Free enables them to be satisfied? Scope and Limitations The study intends to investigate the relationship of marketing strategies and customer satisfaction in Duty Free Shop in Bahrain. For this study, primary research and secondary research will be used. Primary research will be conducted using survey-questionnaires that will be sent to clients and customers of Duty Free Shop in Bahrain. The questionnaires will be used to collect quantitative data and the interviews will be used to provide qualitative insights into the data collected. The data will be analysed and compiled for the correlation of the hypothesis. The data will then be presented by means of graphical representations and illustration and the difference would be highlighted. A negative correlation between the variables would suggest that the hypothesis is null, that is, the level of effectiveness of training programs significantly affects the general efficiency of the organisation. Further, this dissertation will be quantitative and qualitative in nature.  The model of this dissertation will be based on the Input-Process-Output Model; a process is viewed as a series of boxes which are known as processing elements and connected by inputs and outputs. Data or information flows through a series of tasks or activities based on a set of rules or decision points. In IPO model, flow Charts and process diagrams are often used to present such the process.  Basically, what goes in is the input or those data that have an impact in the process and the output (the result).  See Figure 1.1 (Basic IPO Model).   Figure 1.1 Input – Process – Output Model                            The IPO model will show the general structure and guide for the path of the dissertation. Substituting the variables of this research study on the IPO model, the researcher came up with the following:   Figure 1.2 Conceptual Framework              INPUT                                PROCESS                           OUTPUT               For this research, the study will focus on assessing relationship of marketing strategy and customer satisfaction. The study will give emphasis on identifying whether the duty free shop’s marketing strategies leads having satisfied customers. For this study, the research will only have respondents from customers of duty free shop in Bahrain to make sure that pertinent data will be gathered.             Marketing strategy and satisfying the target market has been considered as one of the most important factors to be considered by an industry. Hence, this study will be conducted to determine if these two contexts have a relationship in Duty Free shop in Bahrain. The result of this study will only be confined to the information gathered and collated from the selected respondents based in Bahrain and the books, journals and internet resources. As this research is noted to be accomplished in a specified time limit, different factors and other variables may not be considered which may have a significant effect on the result.   Hypothesis This study will work on the following hypotheses:       “Marketing Strategies used by Duty Free Shop in Bahrain has a significant relation in achieving customer satisfactions.”   Definition of Terms             The following are the definitions of some workable terms in the study:   MARKETING:  Marketing is the procedure by which a company product or service are produced and is then priced, endorsed, and distributed among target market. In large companies the major marketing functions go before the manufacturing of a certain product. Herein, the companies involve marketing research and product development, product design, and product testing or evaluating. The marketing activities focused principally primarily on the customers or the target market (, 2000). As the company determined that needs and desires of the customers, the market leaders develop effective marketing strategies which are designed to educate customers regarding the most essential features of the product or services, encourage them to buy the product or avail the service, and then to improved customer satisfaction with the purchase.   CUSTOMERS: Consumers or customers could be considered as the fuel of any business venture. They are the ones who purchase the products and/or services of the company. Furthermore, consumers may choose particular products/brands not only because these products provide the functional or performance benefits expected, but also because products can be used to express consumers’ personality, social status or affiliation (symbolic purposes) or to fulfil their internal psychological needs, such as the need for change or newness (emotional purposes) (, , , and , 2002).   CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: Customer satisfaction is the difference between what the customer expects from a product or service and what the customer perceives he/she received. As a result, customer satisfaction is perceptual in nature. It is defined by how customers think and feel about your product or service. Objective issues of product performance are important as a basis for influencing customer perceptions about how a product actually performs ( & , 2001). Customer satisfaction is a very wide area of responsibility that most companies strive very hard to achieve. By being accepted by clients or customers, and availing of the services or products that are offered by the company, the provider gains profits and earns. Essentially, customers are the life blood of any business and their acceptance and satisfaction is what ensures that the business stays in operation and continues. Since customers are important to service providers and producers of products, a definition of what a customer must be defined in order to determine who important customers are to companies particularly those who provide services.   CUSTOMER LOYALTY: A loyal customer has a specific bias about what to buy and from whom. His/Her purchase is not a random event. In addition, loyalty connotes a condition of some duration and requires that the act of purchase occur no less than twice ( &  2002).   CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: Customer Relationship Marketing is a practice that encompasses all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful customer relationships. The focus of relationship marketing is on developing long-term relationships and improving corporate performance through customer loyalty and customer retention ( & , 1997).   CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: Customer relationship management  is a business strategy that attempts to ensure every customer interaction that is appropriate and consistent regardless of the communication channel and that CRM is a core business strategy for managing and optimizing customer interactions across the public or private’s institutions’ traditional and electronic interfaces. CRM can be used to gain clearer insight and more intimate understanding of customers’ behaviors and in helping to build an effective competitive advantage and its relationship to the e-business process ( 2000) and that committed customers can be viewed as company assets who are likely to be a source of favourable referrals and are more resistant to competitors’ offers ( 2000).               Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE   Most business always value this quote: “Keep the customer satisfied”. Basically, every organization agrees that satisfaction of customers is important. But what exactly is “customer satisfaction?”  Actually, customer satisfaction is the difference between what the customer expects from a product or service and what the customer perceives he/she received. As a result, customer satisfaction is perceptual in nature. It is defined by how customers think and feel about your product or service. Objective issues of product performance are important as a basis for influencing customer perceptions about how a product actually performs.               In a profit making business the firm obviously has to try and achieve this level of customer satisfaction as a way of staying ahead of the competition and making a profit. Traditionally, marketing strategy has been utilized by the private sector in decisively increasing the capabilities of an organization. Marketing can be considered as one of the most important elements underpinning successful business creation (, 1994). Perhaps because of its complex applications, marketing have been defined in a variety of ways, based on their purpose, their goals, and others (,  & , 1988). The marketing strategy concept was first promulgated in the late 1950’s (, 1990). The importance of marketing strategy incorporates repeated elements such as: customer orientation; integrated marketing strategic efforts; and resultant profitability (, 1990).               All corporations have different strategies in which they allow their organization to operate, which all depend on the different factors that the leaders believe affect their operations, ranging from the environment that their employers are in, the products or services that they are releasing and the dates in which they will be released, and also concerning their human resources that involve the employment, especially regarding their actions that affect the decisions within the departments of the company. With all these factors, it is easier to understand and visualize that indeed in running a company, there are different features that affect the outcome of the company as well as the way in which the operations within it are being followed. However, emphasis must also be given on the clients of whom the companies are serving, of whom many businesses regard as the source of their operations.   Value of Customer Satisfaction             The companies’ customers are then considered among the most important ingredients that determine the success or failure of a company or any other business that operates. Customer satisfaction is a very wide area of responsibility that most companies strive very hard to achieve. By being accepted by clients or customers, and availing of the services or products that are offered by the company, the provider gains profits and earns. Essentially, customers are the life blood of any business and their acceptance and satisfaction is what ensures that the business stays in operation and continues. Since customers are important to service providers and producers of products, a definition of what a customer must be defined in order to determine who important customers are to companies particularly those who provide services.               Customers can carry a lot of potential for the service providers aside from the money that they generate for the business since customers contribute to the growth and development of the institution through the lessons that the company learns from them. This in turn translates to processes, initiatives and directions that the company considers when they plan for future operations. The wealth of information that is derived from the feedbacks generated from the clients serve as something that help with the improvement of the company especially on the products that they will generate and the services that they may be able to offer to their clients. By knowing what their customers need and desire, then the company will also be able to help them in finding out their weaknesses and be able to work on those in order to help with their improvement.             Accordingly, customers are those who purchase or rent from a company or organization. According to the same website, there are two types of customers, the external, and the internal customers. The internal customers are those that people who are working in the same department or branch. The external customers on the other hand, are those who individual customers, customers of different cultures and countries, business groups and organizations. The difference between the external and the internal customers is that the internal customers are employed by the company and belong to the same department or organization that produces the product or service or to other organization of the same company. The external customers on the other hand, are those who avail of the product or service that is produced by the company but do not belong to the company or service sector that provides these.             , ,  (2001) maintained that customers are productive resource and helps in the overall operation of the institution. In high-contact systems clients can affect the time of demand, the exact nature of the service, and the quality of service provided by any company. If customers somehow become better consumers, that is, more participative, knowledgeable, or even productive, service quality experience will likely be improved for the customer and the company as well (,  & , 1990). Companies or firms which capitalise on the active participation of customers in organisational processes can achieve competitive advantage through greater profits, enhanced operating effectiveness, positive word-of-mouth publicity or promotion, decrease marketing expenses, and enhanced consumer loyalty ( & , 1990; , 1992). Clients who actively participate in company and firm activities can directly enhance their personal satisfaction and perceptions towards the quality of the products or services being offered by the company (,  & , 1990). Customer participation has made organizations to broaden up their views on productive resources to the point where customers are not only seen as participants and not merely as recipients of services. (, 1997)               Among the things that companies, service providers, and producers of product must be able to identify are the needs of their customers, the identification of the needs and requirements of the customers and clients of those who provide or would provide this needs are essential for the understanding of the behavior of the customers. Also in the identification of the needs of the customers, those who provide these are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills that are essential for the service that would be provided.  An understanding of the necessary business tools ensures that the company has a focus and is ready to deal with the needs of its clients. Making the customers the center and the focus of any business undertaking reaps rewards for the company and understating that customers are the most important ingredient for the success of the operations is something that most companies are doing right now.             According to  (1996), there is a shift from the old to the new value chain option of service providers. The new value chain operates on the premise that there is a customer orientation. A customer cluster model that is a part of the “new chain model” is a customer driven organization that has directed its resources towards customer needs. In this model, the relationship managers are the ones who own the relationship for customer clusters that are defined by a combination of attributes like demographic and psychographic attributes that are applicable to product and service needs. This type of chain is responsive to the changing behavioral patterns and preferences of customers and the relationship managers can respond to the changing needs of the clients. The relationship managers are the face of the institutions and what they reflect are the drive of the institution to be customer centered. Institutions understand that without the customers and clients, the businesses will not prosper and they will be left behind in this very competitive market that is prevalent today. Having core business priorities that are centered on the very valuable aspect of customer service is a big plus to most service oriented organizations and ensures that in the coming years, there is something that people would recall when the mention of that company or institution comes into mind.               As customer driven institutions, it is very important to determine the competitive advantage of the company. This allows the company to have an edge over their competitor and not to be left behind in today’s very competitive nature of business. Having a very effective customer service system entices customers to do their purchases from the stores that offer more value for their money. As such the need for an effective customer service is a must for an institution that caters for diversified needs and requirements of their clientele.   Customer Service             Customer service system is important to all businesses. Furthermore, 53% of the consumers prefer to do their purchases in retail stores rather than doing it online. This reflects the powerful potential of a very solid customer service system. , founder of High Yield Marketing, a customer relationship-management consulting firm adds that “Customers categorically reject companies when they can’t get in touch with a live person,”  this underscores the fact that not even the most powerful software can match the service representatives whose approach to dealing with customers are interpersonal.             Customer satisfaction is directly tied to the aspect of quality that a product or service has. Quality as a measurement for customer satisfaction traces its roots to  and  and others. This was later continued with the development of key programs that are directly tied to the fulfilment of customer satisfaction. Programs are concepts and programs that involve Total Quality, Continuous Quality, and Total Quality Management (TQM). In TQM quality is “the meeting or the exceeding of customer expectations”.             There have been many views that are concerned with quality. According to  it is a conformance of a requirement. For twenty four it is the fitness for use. Twenty eight argues that it is an innate excellence in a product.   (1987) summarized all of this and put quality as something that is not a single recognizable characteristic but a variety of attributes that appear in many forms. Simply put, it is in the eye of the beholder where quality is determined.             Basically, different businesses operate because of profits. This motivation of businesses is the reason why they seek to constantly innovate and improve their services and operations is to continue to earn profits. Most businesses strive very hard to continually satisfy their customers and clients. Customer satisfaction is one of the aspects that private and public sector strive hard for. The importance of satisfying the needs of the customers result in the acceptance of the product or service that is offered by the business and assures that the client returns to avail of the product or service that is provided by the company             According to  (2000) satisfaction is something that all people value. It can be a job well done, a fulfilment of a wish, or a positive outcome that is a result of something that was done. According to  (1993), satisfaction happens when the fulfilment of expectations and when these expectations are exceeded.  However, due to the high levels of individual satisfaction among clients, an expectation of a client may be different from the other client thus, there is need to further improve so as to satisfy the varied needs of those who are expecting something from the services of product that they have availed.  (2000) adds that the expectation levels of clients change over time as one type of service may not be acceptable to others. As such, in the field of service, there are two ways where those who provide service combat these obstacles to customer satisfaction. The first one is the improvement of services that is offered by those who provide services. The other way is to take an active part in the establishment of the expectation levels that are to be reached. Through the setting up of the expectations that service companies have, they have their own expectations to reach and thus have something to start on.              (1997) noted that the unexpected high levels of satisfaction that is produced in clients lead to pleasure and delight. This in turn leads to those clients availing of the same services or products that provide them with a certain level of satisfaction and provide them with their monies worth.               The result of exceeding client expectation results in an advantage that companies would have that is called “commitment ladder” ( &  1999).  This is the result of the satisfaction of clients who used to be one time customers of a certain product or service and has evolved into regular patrons of a certain service. This advantage works in many ways for the provider due to the unlimited opportunities that is attached with the satisfaction of a certain client or customer. Among the advantages that are attached with these is the promotion that the service gets due to the word-of-mouth promotion that is gained by the provider through the satisfied customer. The satisfied client boosts the credibility and reputation of the service due to the satisfaction that was gained by the client from the service provider. Another benefit that is gained by the service provider over satisfied clients is the reduction of acquisitions cost needed to attract more new clients ( 1996).              and  (2001) state that very few measure satisfactions properly. Given the situation that very few measure customers’ satisfaction properly, the above mentioned authors suggested four ways on how customer satisfaction can be measured. These steps are vital for the identification of weak points where service providers can improve. The customer satisfaction management is necessary for providers of services and products so that there could be service improvements.             These measures include looking through the eye of the customers. In this step, the service provider considers the tangible and quantitative factors that help shape the impression of a customer to a product. The next way is to develop a standard system of measurement.  and  (2001) noted that two marketers namely  and  are known for their strong customer guarantee where they replace goods which fall short of the customer satisfaction. In the case of , the employment of a “balanced scorecard” which is used to measure the company performance and reviews the factors that affect client/customer satisfaction.  The “scorecard” keeps track of indicators of company performance. Using the “scorecard” allows those in the service sector to develop a method of finding out what are the factors that contribute to the dissatisfaction of customers and clients and be able to find ways on how this could be corrected.  The third way of measuring customer satisfaction is the application of specific measurement standards where it is appropriate. The final way to evaluate customer satisfaction is to take action and evaluate results. By identifying aspects that lead to customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, the service provider can now focus on improving the service and there is a service that leads to the dissatisfaction of a client, the company can now institute ways on how this can be changed in order to produce satisfaction for the clients.  Through the results that were gathered by service provider with regards to the operations that they are doing. The company can easily make adjustments on how to make the service that proved to be more efficient and effective in order to maximize the potential of the company and at the same time generate more income for the service provider. Through this, the customers would remain loyal to the company and the company in return would be benefiting from the many advantages that are attached to having satisfied clients and customers.             Satisfaction among customers is something that most service providers would want to ultimately achieve. It is a process that does not happen overnight and is a result of several changes that are undertaken within the company. According to  (2002) organizations need to suffice the needs of customers. Thus, the need to realign the organization must be based on the requirements of the customers. The introduction of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) in America was designed to help agencies determine the drivers of customer satisfaction. Anne Kelly, the director of Federal Quality Group stresses that “organizational alignment is necessary for enterprises to    produce excellent results”.             According to  (2002) an effective and efficient customer satisfaction begins with the right frame of mind of those who are in the Human Resources (HR) department. Since it is the human resource who hires those who would man the front desk and perform other functions that directly deal with clients or customers. It is the responsibility of the HR to determine the kind of employees that will be hired by the company or institution. The HR is tasked with the training, and orientation of the employee. This approach would spell out that the success or failure of the service provider to attract clients is in the hands of those who are in the Human Resource department. The old notion that customer service is in the field of responsibility for sales managers and technical support staff is now passed. What HR departments are employing and focusing their efforts now is on the training for the improvement of the programs that are geared towards customers’ satisfaction.  As such, the HR activities like hiring, coaching and evaluation of programs are now oriented towards the development and the nurturing of long lasting relationships with clients. The subtle changes that have taken effect in the aspect of training and hiring of employees have produced positive improvements in the company. Take the case of NCCI Holdings Inc., when the company realized that the clients needed help in the use of the insurance software that the company provides, the company underwent a training initiative that is aimed towards the development of technical expertise of the sale representatives. The effect of this training was that there was an increase in the customer satisfaction levels of the company.             While training increases the improvement of customer relationships and customer services, there are ways on how effective these changes that were introduced can be reflected by those who are in the institution. According to  (2002) a customer satisfaction strategy must be connected to actions that get results in terms of products and or services for customers. As such, there must be performance measures that would provide feedback on the success of strategies by serving as a progress reporting system. Measurements in an organization need to be balanced between leading and lagging, as well as between hard and soft indicators. Measures need to represent a variety of areas such as finance, customer satisfaction, stakeholder, internal operations, and employee learning ( and , 1993).             It is not only the performance measure that must be viewed but also the financial aspect. There must be a financial measure that would address the return on investment, direct costs compared to indirect costs, and resource allocations. Many government organizations use an accounting system to look at cost by product. Others have incorporated activity based costing, earned value management, or economic value added activities into their methodology. For most government organizations, the primary financial measure is the effective execution of the budget (, 2002).             Another area for measures is customer satisfaction or value added. This measure answers the question: “How well is the organization listening and responding to the customers?” customer satisfaction measures take into account all product/service features and characteristics that contribute value to customers. The customer measurements should be identified by customer segment groups.  Still another area for measures is internal operations. These are the measures for the key or strategic, business, and support processes. They look at how things are done. Operational measures include productivity measures such as cycle time, rework, and system variation.   Ensuring Customer Satisfaction             According to  and  (1995), customer satisfaction brings many benefits as satisfied customers are not very price sensitive, buy additional products, are less influenced by competitors and stay loyal longer.  and  (1995) stated that customer satisfaction has been deemed directly to affect customer retention and companies’ market share ( & , 1995). In banks, service quality, service features, and customer-complaint handling determine customer satisfaction ( & , 2004). Some factors that affect satisfaction are extended hours of operation and competitive interest rates as confirmed by the study of  and  (1996). In addition, there are researchers who discuss the links between satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability (, 1994). They are proponents of the theory called service management, which argues that “customer satisfaction is the result of a customer’s perception of the value received in a transaction or relationship relative to the value expected from transactions or relationships with competing vendors. Pertaining to this theory,  and  (2004) stated: “Loyalty behaviours, including relationship continuance, increased scale or scope of relationship, and recommendation (word of mouth advertising) result from customers’ beliefs that the quantity of value received from one supplier is greater than that available from other suppliers” (). They continued: “Loyalty, in one or more of the forms noted above, creates increased profit through enhanced revenues, reduced costs to acquire customers, lower customer-price sensitivity, and decreased costs to serve customers familiar with a firm’s service delivery system” ( & , 2004, ). Providing excellent customer service is a crucial differentiator in an intrinsic competent market environment. Most industries which provide clients what they need and satisfied them helps the company to enhance its market share, definitely gain more profit and enjoy higher revenue ( & , 2003). Accordingly, customer relationship marketing is a business approach which consists of the entire marketing procedures with a primary goal of formulating, improving, maintaining and sustaining effective customer relationships. Herein, relationship marketing gives emphasis on creating lasting relationships and enhancing industrial performance through the gained customer loyalty as well as customer retention ( & , 1997). Because of the introduction of the new business paradigms that are connected with the internet, the standards of industries have been changed. Conventional business affects differentiators which consist of location; comfortable and exchanging cost which have been much less relevant. In this manner, global businesses and industries from financial sectors to manufacturers, educational systems and service organisation, the playing ground has been easily and drastically concentrated. Herein, one of the most notable approaches that has been left to make an industry different from their competitor is through the quality of the services offered. Having been able to meet the needs of the customers, leads to providing superior customer service, that provides the target market real reasons for continuously transacting business with the industry. Hence, industry analyst agrees that efficient customer service is one of the biggest and most crucial opportunities available on the web today (,  & , 2002) According to  and  (2003), the context of relationship marketing means achieving competitive advantage, specifically through the acquirement of significant assets, such as knowledge, commitment and trust. Therefore, from a relationship marketing standpoint, particular importance is placed on achieving the goals of generating and increasing intangible resources ( & , 1991). Communications, transaction activities, information research are all parts of traditional marketing and through this marketers are able to improve or streamline these traditional marketing processes. If organisations look toward and use some of the information communications technology, such as e-mail, virtual teaming, and the Internet readily at hand, and investigate some of the more esoteric electronic marketing resources, these processes can be improved or streamlined ( & , 2002). With these tools you can better research your products or services industry, better research environmental trends, better target your markets, maintain better knowledge of and communications with your current and prospective customers , and receive almost instantaneous feedback on new products or services.   Customer Relationship Management The notion of customer relationship management existed as an approach implemented for learning and knowing more about the client’s needs as well as behaviours. Such knowledge enables the company to establish stronger relationships with the target market.  Customer relationship management is a management system which works on the basic principle that the customers are at the center of the success of any business. Generally, an industry must be able to give importance to their customers through the total worth of their relationship with the industry, the possible worth of such type of affiliation, the productivity of the relationship/connection, the insights that the customers can give the industry, as well as the impact that these customers yield over other customers.  Because of these, the industry is able to implement a successful management of customer relationship without utilising any technological software and database ( 2000).             In brief, management of customer relationship is a management approach which tries to secure customer interaction which is suitable and consistent despite of the channels of communication and that this approach is a central business practice for facilitating, organizing and optimizing the interactions of the customers across various institutions’ conventional and electronic interfaces. This management approach can also be implemented to achieve clearer insight as well as more personal understanding of the behaviours of the customers and in assisting create a sustainable competitive advantage and with a strong relationship to the e-business process ( 2000) and that dedicated target market can be viewed as fundamental assets of an industry who are possibly be the best source of advantageous referrals which are extra resistant to rivals’ offers ( 2000). According to  and  (2000), CRM is concentrated on the use of information technology so as to aid the organization to stay abreast of its customers’ needs and concerns. Customer Relationship Management also helps the organization to respond in time and appropriately to their customers’ concerns. Basically, CRM is integrated into a business’ operation by means of customized software or computer programs. Though several views have been used to define CRM, the rationale for its use remains the same, and that is the application of strategies to improve or enhance customer relations. In spite of the many considerations that management has to make in order to effectively implement CRM into its operations, several businesses are trying to work on employing such strategy. This is due to the fact that intimate customer relationships provide the industry several advantages. One of which is the establishment of committed customers. Committed customers are more than simple repeat purchasers as they have an emotional connection to the seller ( and , 1994; , 1997). These emotions may come in the form of trust, liking and believing in the organization’s capability to respond instantly and effectively to a customer’s concern (, 1998). The company considers committed customers as its assets as they can possibly be a source of favourable word-of-mouth referrals. These customers are more resistant to competitors’ offers. Aside from this effect, CRM provide a point of leverage to realize economies of scope. Committed customers are often amenable to line extensions ( and , 1998). Leveraging the customer base can facilitate cross-selling complementary products as well as selling up to higher quality substitutes. The ability of CRM to reduce costs has been explored as well in the recent years. When CRM is applied along with other work processes, the strategy is capable of reducing churn or turnover in a company’s customer base.  Thus, better customer management can lead to lower sales and service costs, higher buyer retention and lower customer replacement expenditures (, 1996). Various companies have applied CRM into their operations. One of these companies is the Irish Life and Permanent, which offers a wide range of life assurance, investment products and pension for individuals and groups to over a million clients in Ireland (, 2004). So as to maximize revenues and enhance customer satisfaction, a software platform that would sustain seamless, quality sales and services through multiple lines of business, product lines and channels of communication. Through this integrated profile, each client’s policy data and history would make it less difficult for Irish and Permanent to determine prospects for a more advanced business growth. Overall, the CRM system applied by Irish Life and Permanent had enhanced customer satisfaction and helped the company to become Ireland’s best provider of personal financial services (, 2004). FAW-Volkswagen was also among the many others who have been dependent on CRM strategies. The company decided to implement a CRM system due to major business challenges such as unresponsive customer service, slow reaction times, lack of real-time information deficient incorporation of data and processes and shortage of IT personnel (, 2001). Within six months, the company then decided to execute mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) in order to improve its customer service and acquire more vital information about its client base. According to the company management, the CRM system had made real-time information on products, dealers and clients more accessible. As a result, the system had been a helpful tool in enabling customer service representatives to acquire the latest product information and attend to customer concerns anytime and anywhere. The Interamerican Group, a leading Greek insurance company, is yet another organization who had implemented their own CRM system. The application of this CRM system in the company had enabled the company to attain their corporate objective based on revenue growth so as to augment market share without leaving profitability behind. The project had helped the company in identifying customer segments and related exceptions. Furthermore, the CRM application had helped the company established underwriting rules through improved comprehension of the pricing policy and its implications. According to the company management, the project has not only allowed them to respond better to the changing trends of their market, but perhaps the most important thing the project has taught them was how to understand and serve their various rate groups better insights (, 2002).   Bahrain Duty Free Shop Exhibit 1 Bahrain Duty Free   Duty Free is one of the most recognised retail industry which operating in an airport. Duty Free Shops has been able to conquer airline and airport industry all over the world and one of these is in Bahrain. Duty Free show in Bahrain started on October 29, 1981 at the Bahrain International Airport.  Being considered as a high spending area in the Middle East, Bahrain Duty is distinctive as it is privately owned and has been included on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. With this strategy, the industry has been consistently aware of their responsibilities to their shareholders and the demand in maximising effectiveness and productivity without compromising the client offer. The management of Bahrain has been able to merge its legacy with the utmost level of international retail standards to generate a distinctive “sense of place”.  One of the marketing strategies imposed by the company is its simultaneous investments in terms of infrastructure and assuring quality services to their clients, by offering them a unique place that offers everything. This mission and vision has put the company in the competitive position among its rival companies. Regardless of regional unrest and the issues of the currency, exceptional growth, improved penetration and record sales have been retained in the successful history behind this one of a kind retail environment. Through their strategy, the company has been able to provide the needs of their target market and overcome the challenges posed in the travel retail industries in Bahrain, such as the discounting approach regional downtown and the low taxation. Part of the marketing strategy of the company is to consider innovation at all marketing aspects. This strategy has elevated Bahrain international Airport retail industries to contemporary competitive level. Through the marketing strategy of Bahrain Duty Free, the company has been able to set new standard for retailing in airport by establishing a distinctive and high level of entertaining shopping experience. All this and more has been attained because of the originality and uniqueness of the Duty Free Bahrain designs that brings together different brings creative features, such as the utilisation of specialized lighting and colour coded areas to help the clients in determining brand categories which include: v     Cardinal Red for the area of Confectionary, Tobacco & Liquor. v     Cornflower Yellow for Fashion boutiques, Jewelry Shops and , Fashion & Watches v     Azure Blue for Cosmetics, Skincare and Fragrances v     Vibrant prime colours for high Tech stainless Steel finish of the Communications, Electronics, and Music.   In addition, the shop also include a special and extremely acclaimed area which is the Authentic Bahrain Souq that composed of exciting local crafts, regular demonstrations as well as performances by conventional artist and craftsmen. Moreover, the company also provides extended services for their clients which include a 24-hour shopping experience for arrivals and departures, pre-ordering service through the internet, online raffles and draws, the creation of customer Loyalty Card, beauty advisors, gift wrapping and many others. In addition, the staff in Bahrain Duty Free is always attentive to customers providing them assistance and giving advice.   Total Quality Management             According to  (1999), Total Quality Management is the incorporation of all the functions and processes of the organization () to be able to develop the quality of the services and or/products that they offer. With this, it can be stated that customer relationship management programs are included in total quality management. The need to develop an effective total quality management is important due to various reasons. However, these reasons are still geared towards providing customers with the great business experience with the company.  It is also the case that total quality management views customer satisfaction in relation to customer retention and increase in the profits. However, there are different takes on this topic.  Some researchers believe that customer satisfaction creates to customers who will keep on doing business with the same company.  This results from the customers’ experience when they were conducting business with that particular company.  These researchers believe that the presence of customers who are willing to spend a little more just to be able to do business with their preferred company confirms that customer experience; in this case, customer satisfaction can help businesses in increasing their profit.  In fact, a number of companies believe so much in the power of customer satisfaction together with other key factors like revenue and profit that they use it to measure their business’ over-all performance.  This take on customer satisfaction brings about the concept that business must include customer satisfaction programs in their budget allocation. One such example of this practice can be observed in Sears Roebuck & Co.  Other retail stores even use customer satisfaction rating as a measure for employee compensation.  Employees and executives are being rewarded based on the feedback that the store gets from its customers.  Businesses do this in order to foster a culture of delivering top-quality customer service that will improve financial performance.  This statement simply means that businesses believe that the more satisfied the customers are the more profitable the store will be.  They give much importance to on the fact that it is costly to attract customers but even more expensive to lose them (, 2004).  According to  and . (as cited in , 2005), the cost of gaining new customers is 6-7 times more expensive than retaining customer and a 5 percent increase in customer retention can also increase profit by 25-95 percent.  But the on the average American companies lose 50 percent of their customers every 5 years.  This, to a certain degree, proves that there is an indirect relation between customer satisfaction and increase in sales through increased customer retention. On the other hand, there are those researchers who believe that customer satisfaction does not always translate to customer loyalty or retention. According to two  researchers,  and , customer satisfaction result in varying levels of loyalty which affects the customers’ disposition towards patronage.  This means that customer satisfaction do not create loyal customers because even satisfied customers have the tendency to change stores. This change of store by the customers can be justified by the level of satisfaction that they will get from another store.  Therefore, the focus of customer satisfaction must be aimed at proving the highest value bundle to the customers in order to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction (as cited in , 2003, ). Even though, the two examples provide different view regarding the relation of customer satisfaction and customer retention, it is evident that customer satisfaction affects customer retention. And customer retention results in increased profit since customer retention lessens the turnover rates ( and , ) (1990).  The only difference that was actually posted by the two articles involves how customer satisfaction affects customer retention.  The first example stated that customer satisfaction automatically results in customer retention while the second views that customer retention is dependent on the degree of satisfaction that the customers get. Nevertheless, both articles showed that there is a correlation between customer satisfaction, customer retention and increase in profit. This being the case, it can be stipulated that if banking industries recognize the correlation between the three then they will be able to sustain their business and ensure that its future it secured. Moreover, implementing customer relationship management programs will allow an organization to identify the sets of customers that are more susceptible to outbound contact methods and those that would rather stay with inbound call methods. In doing so, they will also be able to lessen the stress of their agents by providing them with hot leads. Since Total Quality Management is founded on the philosophy of perpetual improvement (, 2005), it means that businesses must always be on their feet to keep up with the demands of the market.  Therefore, businesses must accept that change is an integral part of success. They must be willing to give up old inefficient business strategies and start formulating new ones. In addition,  (2005) stated that the key to improving the quality of products and services that a company offers is develop the processes of identification, production and support of the products and services. This means that everybody with the company must be work together in order to resolve the problematic processes. In the middle of this, managers must   be able to act as leaders and provide trainings to their subordinates. The skills that employees acquire through training will be their tools in initiating change. Managers must also keep track of the developments within the company. This means that they must constantly review and measure the performance of the team. This way they will be able to gauge if the process being used is helping in achieving the preferred result of the company.    Reference Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

The Relationship of Marketing Practices and Customer Satisfaction of Duty Free Shop in Bahrain

Chapter 1 PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Introduction One of the largest service organizations known in the world today are those airlin...

HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN :AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVENTIONS CONDUCTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS   Chapter 1. 4 Problem and its Background. 4 I.      Introduction. 4 II.     Background of the Topic. 5 III.        Aim and Objectives of the Study. 7 IV.        Plan of the Study. 9 V.     Rationale of the Study. 11 VI.        Significance of the Study. 12 VII.       Scope and Limitations. 13 Chapter 2. 15 Review of Related Literature. 15 I.      Legal Regime of Human Rights in Iran. 15 A.     Constitutional foundations. 15 B.     Origins from the Civil Code. 17 C.     Stipulations in the Penal Code. 18 II.     Civil Liberties in Iran. 19 A.     Restricted Expression. 19 B.     Issues on Gender. 20 C.     Presence of Due Process in the Justice System. 21 D.     Treatment of Religious and Ethnic Minorities. 22 E.     Battling the Political Opposition. 23 F.     Treatment of Children. 24 III.        The Status in the International Community. 25 IV.        Synthesis. 26 Chapter 3. 27 Methods and Procedures. 27 I.      Research Methods. 27 II.     Respondents. 28 III.        Ethical Issues. 29 Chapter 4. 30 Presentation, Interpretation, and Analysis of the Data. 30 I.      Background of the Respondents. 30 II.     Failed Attempt of the International Community with Iran. 31 A.     Cultural and Religious Foundations. 31 B.     Political and Legal Foundations. 34 III.        Conducting Humanitarian Interventions. 36 A.     Attempts of Intervention Made by International Institutions. 36 1.     United Nations. 37 2.     European Union. 38 3.     United States of America. 39 B.     Legality of Humanitarian Interventions. 40 IV.        Dealing with Issues of Human Rights Violations. 41 A.     Possibility of Democratisation. 41 B.     Continued Talks with the Iranian Government. 43 C.     Sanctions Made by the International Community. 44 V.     Subconclusion. 45 Chapter 5. 46 Conclusions, and Recommendations. 46 I.      Summary. 46 II.     Conclusions. 47 III.        Recommendations. 49       Chapter 1 Problem and its Background   I.             Introduction The state of human rights in the world is among the most heated and possibly the most recurring debates in nowadays. International policies held by individual states and even regional blocs have taken several amendments and developments in order to acquire a more universally acceptable laws pertaining to human rights. An area that has been incessantly present in human rights discourses is its implementation in Middle Eastern countries. Atrocities and other dreadful acts of human rights violations have been noted in news articles. Countless articles and studies have been published seeking to address this issue. The international community has also taken the initiative to deal with this problem by conducting dialogues and meetings with these countries. However, up until now, actual development has yet to be seen. In the recent reports of NGOs, like the Human Rights Watch, indicates that the situations seem to have actually turned to a far worse scenario. This study intends to analyse this situation by looking into the conditions prevailing in a particular country similarly known for its indiscretions on its policies pertaining to human rights, Iran. The following discussions in this chapter will provide the framework of the study.   II.           Background of the Topic Middle Eastern countries, specifically Islamic ones, have been under the watchful eyes of international organisations especially on their violations of international human rights laws. Iran is not exempt on this scrutiny. Early reports dating back at over two decades ago validates that the country do implement acts which is considered internationally as violations of human rights. (1985) In these reports, it is noted that civil liberties like “right to life, the right to freedom from torture or cruel; inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to liberty and security of person and to freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention; the right to a fair trial; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to freedom of expression; and the right of religious minorities to profess and practise their own religion” are among the alleged violations of the country. It is important to note that these allegations were over two decades old. After this span of period, it appears that the same allegations are still in the lists of “supposed” human right violations of Iran. Recently, a recent report of the  (2006), they indicated that the “respect of human rights” in the country of Iran has significantly spiralled down since its 2005 analysis. This only shows that the same “supposed” human right violations of Iran accused of them over twenty years ago seems to exist even at the present day. With this phenomenon, questions on the reason why Iran shows signs of being pathologically incapable of adhering to international human rights laws tend to recur in recent studies on the subject. Answers are consistently being sought to help stop the said country in any more violations and even reform its policies towards conforming to these international standards. To illustrate, there have been studies that indicated the inappropriate fit between the religion of Islam and civil liberties. These studies claim that the religion in the state has been one of the main reasons for human right violations. (1998) Other studies have noted that the existing foreign policies are the cause of the supposed violations of Iran. (2000) They even claim that in the perspective of Iran, the regime covering the area of human rights is a mere component of a hegemonic attempt of countries like the United States and other influential nations. In any case, Iran is now on the political lime light not only because of its supposed human right violations. To some extent, these issues on human rights, though recurring as indicated earlier, tend to become a component of a more complicated international issue, nuclear proliferation. Apparently, Iran has been among the few countries that have turned to nuclear generation to deal with its issues in energy. ( 2005) An appended issue on having a nuclear program is the possibility of development of nuclear weaponry. (2006) This posed to be a significant issue in the international community as Iran’s nuclear program is up and running. To a certain extent, there may well be a good reason for this apprehension from the international community since Iran was formerly known as a haven of terrorist groups several decades ago. (2000) Recent studies have highlighted the threat of a nuclear-powered Iran against defenceless countries in conflict with the said state (i.e. Israel) Thus, the international community is giving an enormous amount of consideration on Iran’s case, along with the issues on the nuclear programme, the concerns of human rights violations in the country has also been noticed.   III.         Aim and Objectives of the Study Human rights laws are plainly defined as “the way a state treats those within its domain.” (2006) This is the operational definition of human rights law that will be used in this thesis. Basically, the law covers the conduct of states. Other studies have indicated that human rights laws tend to have an effect on international peace. Specifically, the violation of these laws tends to compromise the continuing existence of international peace as the most recent humanitarian interventions made by the international community have, one way or another, elements of human rights violation as a part of its justifications. (1999) In the study of (2004,), they noted that there are a couple of factors that makes the implementation of an international regime pertaining human rights laws rather complicated. First, they noted that “human rights norms are not self-enforcing.” ) This means that the laws present in the existing international regime tends to show signs of lack of direct interest in implementing these rules with other states. This is reinforced by the second issue noted by  (2004) indicating that “good faith” states that adopts these laws tend to veer away from making other countries follow or at least be disciplined if they are found to violate these existing international regimes.  The discussions above establish the fact that violations of human rights laws do have some adverse effect in international peace. However, it appears that the implementation of these laws tend to be voluntary which means that the international community could only do so much in monitoring the conduct of states towards the people in their borders. Following this line of reasoning, there is an ominous implication that human rights violations will never be stamped out. Given these issues, it is the intention of this study thus to accomplish the following aims and objectives:   ·         Establish the reasons why the international community has not been very successful in persuading Iran to protect human rights; It would be interesting to see the methods and attempts made by the international community in encouraging Iran to adhere to human rights laws. Specifically, international bodies like the United Nations, European Union, and influential nations like the United States have distinctive approaches in forwarding their attempt to make the Iranian government deal with the human atrocities within their borders.   ·         Provide justifications for the international community in conducting humanitarian interventions in sovereign states like Iran; and Studies and arguments pertaining to the right of international organisations and other nations to intervene with the business of Iran will be noted. Specifically, issues on sovereignty and rights of humanitarian intervention will be addressed to realise this objective of the dissertation. To do this, reference with scholarly and academic journals discussing the matter will be consulted along with the interpretation of international laws pertinent to this types of situations.    ·         Provide possible recommendations in dealing with these issues of human rights violations. The fulfilment of this objective requires the researcher to provide an in-depth analysis of the primary and secondary data acquired for this thesis. The interviews as well as the analysis of the existing literature on international law, human rights, and humanitarian interventions will be the core element in realising this objective. In essence, these recommendations will constitute the major findings and serve as the foundations of the conclusion of this thesis.   IV.Plan of the Study The study will provide a qualitative analysis of the implementation of human rights law in the Iranian situation. The thesis will be divided into five chapters to provide a clear presentation of the topic. The first chapter will serve as the introductory part of the thesis. It is in this chapter that the foundations of the study are established. The statement of the problem, the discussion of the background as well as the significance of the findings of the study will be provided in this part of the thesis. It is also in this part of the thesis that the scope and perceived limitations of the study is going to be discussed. The second chapter will provide the review of the existing literature on the topic. Basically, the discussions will be covering the situation in Iran, particularly the local and international implications of Iran’s stand in the whole human rights issue. The chapter is divided into three major parts. The first part will cover the laws and legal foundations on which Iran’s encounter with the issues on human rights are based. The second part will cover the supposed violations in the civil liberties in the state. In this part of the chapter, reports on the supposed violations will be indicated separately by specific civil liberty. The third part of the chapter will be looking into the reactions of the international community on Iran. Specific connections will be made with the state’s nuclear programme and supposed violations of human rights. The end of the chapter will constitute a synthesis of the entire discussions made within the three parts. This synthesis will also be used as a foundation on the interpretations of the data acquired from the respondents in this study.            The third chapter of this thesis will discuss the methodology employed as well as the procedures taken in this paper. Basically, the chapter will include the description of the models used, the respondents, the tools used, and the ethical considerations that the researcher has to deal with in acquiring the data needed in this study. The fourth chapter will cover the interpretation of the data acquired from the interviews conducted by the researcher. Tables, figures, and charts will also be used to show summaries of the collected data to facilitate the interpretation based on the discussions made in the second chapter of the thesis. Moreover, the chapter will also be taking statistics from international organisations to support the claims, observations, and arguments made by the researcher on this chapter. The findings on this chapter will be the basis of the conclusion and the recommendations of the paper. The final chapter will cover the conclusions and recommendations made by the researcher. These are based on the discussions and summary of the major points and arguments made in this study.      V.          Rationale of the Study This paper is composed of a couple of rationales. The first one is the age-old conflict between the Islamic-Middle East and the principles of the West. Superficially, this rationale is seen in plain religious undertones, however, the issue is more complex as it seems. In relation to the main topic of this paper, which is human rights, there has been a rather wide range of rhetoric pertaining to the relationship of the religion of Islam and democracy. With these studies come the prevailing issues on Islamic countries and the perceived violations of the international standards of human rights law. Contradictions on the principles of Islam and democracy has bee discussed lavishly in articles of international politics. (1992) This poses a problem in the case of Iran given that majority of the elements of human rights law are based on democratic principles whereas Iran is operates under a theocratic rule (Islamic Republic). (1994) The second rationale is based on the recent trend in foreign policies relating to Middle Eastern countries. Basically, this is the major outcome of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Western policies pertaining to its relationship with the Middle East turned to an unpleasant turn. The focus of western countries, particularly the United States, has shifted towards the Middle East because of the issue of terrorism. As noted in the earlier part of this chapter, Iran was considered before as a have for terrorist groups. It is no surprise the leaders of the “free world” takes careful check on the affairs of countries like Iran. This situation is also compounded by the fact that Iran has a fully functional nuclear programme. Regardless of any other considerations or perspectives, common sense will always say that the combination of “nuclear” and “terrorism” always spell dreadful fortune. This notion alone will make any country consider averting or at least place considerable attention on any other state that minutely has the possibility of harbouring these two. Unfortunately for Iran, they fit the bill. It is for this reason that they are in the close scrutiny of the international community.      VI.Significance of the Study There are already a considerable number of studies regarding Middle Eastern Islamic countries and human rights. The findings of this study will similarly be a welcome contribution to the existing data on that subject. Moreover, a closer look and a detailed account on the case of Iran will be provided, which is basically timely as the country is currently under public scrutiny. In the same regard, the data used in this study will be coming first hand from people who actually experienced the conditions in Iran. This will provide the reader with the perspective of an individual who encountered the prevailing conditions present in the said state. In addition, the study may also be an important part of the existing literature on the topic. It could serve as an impetus for other academics to push through with further investigations on this topic. In the same way, the learners and students of international law and human rights legislation will also benefit on the findings of this study.           VII.       Scope and Limitations The discussion on this thesis will be based on the rationale as well as the aims and objectives indicated in this chapter. Moreover, the responses of the respondents as well as the existing literature will serve as the primary and secondary sources of data which will then be interpreted and analysed by the researcher. However, this study has some limitations. Given the chosen mode of data acquisition, the findings will be based highly on the perspective of the respondents in the conditions in Iran. Thus, it is the responsibility of the researcher to regard each of the responses dutifully in relation to the existing literature. In the same regard, the use of qualitative form of research could open the interpretation of data to a considerable level of researcher bias. To prevent this, the researcher has to constantly check with the rationale and aims of this paper so that the interpretations would remain objective and impartial.        Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature I.     Legal Regime of Human Rights in Iran The following discussions will cover the legal regime in Iran with particular reference with elements complementary of the international human rights laws. The discussions will include an analysis of the Iran’s Qānun-e asāsi, civil and penal codes. This area of the literature review will serve as an introductory part on the subsequent discussions on the civil liberties in Iran. A.  Constitutional foundations The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Qānun-e asāsi) contains legal principles that complement certain principles of human rights. For instance, Article 3 of the Constitution indicates that the state has the responsibility of “ensuring political and social freedoms within the framework of the law.” (2007) In the same regard, the indivisible nature of “the freedom, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of the country” is ensured by the constitution as a major principle of the state. (Article 9) In looking at these constitutional entries, it appears that the recurring theme is the espousal of individual freedom in Iran. This shows that the fundamental laws and the backbone of the legal regime in Iran recognises and respects the freedom of every man within the territory of the country. In addition, the principle of equality is also espoused in the constitution of Iran. In Article 3 of the Constitution, it states that the state is responsible of “securing the multifarious rights of all citizens, both women and men, and providing legal protection for all, as well as the equality of-all before the law.” (2007) This principle of equality is also indicated in the Article 19 of the Constitution indicating that “all people of Iran, whatever the ethnic group or tribe to which they belong, enjoy equal rights; and color, race, language, and the like, do not bestow any privilege.” (2007) Upon reviewing the rest of the Articles in the Qānun-e asāsi, the researcher has found several other human rights principles embedded in the constitution. Such principles include the right of suffrage (Article 6); right to due process of the law (Article 37, Article 32, Article 165, Article 165 and Article 161); outlawing of torture (Article 38 and Article 39). All the said entries in the Constitution are indicated in the translated version provided by the Iran Chamber Society. Thus, seeing that there are constitutional provisions that pertain to certain civil liberties, this indicate that the Iranian legal regime is established in principles of human rights regardless of any consideration of international human rights laws. However, there is this lingering issue that past and recent reports of human rights violations on Iran seem to place in disagreement with the constitutional provisions discussed above. The subsequent discussions will cover some more descriptions of legislations that appear to complement international human rights principles.        B.  Origins from the Civil Code A part of the civil code of Iran is the Civil Procedure Code (2007) which covers specific actions pertaining to judicial and legal proceedings relevant in the country.  Basically, the said piece of legislation reinforces the rights to due process of the law indicated in the Constitution. Specific provisions like Article 356, Article 314, Article 112, and Article 5 cover areas such as the presumption of innocence, right to representation, and sufficient proof before convicting any individual.    In the discussions above, the Constitution of Iran has also established the specific elements that support human rights in the country. However, as it has been noted, there have been several variations on the other legal regime that implemented in Iran. For instance, the discussions above have displayed the existence of constitutional provisions pertaining to equality and freedom in Iran. This discrepancy is seen in the Civil Code implemented in the country. Specifically, this code even provides a clear description of the inherent inequality in the social milieu of Iran. Basically, Articles 906, 920, 907, and 911are laws pertaining to portions of inheritance among the family members. However, these laws manifest the inequality in gender present in the Iranian society.  Specific provisions pertaining to the portions of inheritance is divided not only be the degree of kinship but also on the gender of the recipient. This goes in direct opposition of Article 3 of the Constitution of Iran.     C.  Stipulations in the Penal Code There are three types of punishments available in the penal code of Iran: hudud, qissas, or diya. The hudud are claimed to have originated from the Koran and are also infused in the Shari’a laws implemented in Islamic countries. Studies on the Middle Eastern culture have noted that such laws based on hudud are considered harsh. (1997)  Basically, this observation is only fitting as the principle of hudud is translated literally as fixed punishments, “legal punishments decreed by God.” ( 1996) On the other hand, the concept of qissas is also infused in the legal system of Iran. Being a theocratic country, the Shari’a has a major influence on the laws implemented in the land. Recent articles pertaining to the Islam culture indicate that qissas are literally translated as retribution. (2006) It is a realization of ancient laws of “eye-for-an-eye.” Thus, it could be assumed that in Iran, the gravity of one’s offence could only be put to justice once a punishment of equal severity is given.   As pointed out in the paper of (2004), the laws of Shari’a tends to provide avenues of retribution as a major ingredient of justice. And for some reason, violence is always involved. Just as the concept of qissas are considered open violence as retribution is readily handed to the other party, giving “blood-money” is a similarly considered as violence. (2004) It covers the element of “latent violence” by means of compensating for the injustice or crime done to another party through financial reparations.   II.   Civil Liberties in Iran The previous discussions have established that the legal framework that governs the Iranian milieu does have provisions that cover the rights of the people within its territory. However, as indicated, there are some inconsistencies with the infusion of violence in the penal code and inequality in the civil code of the country. The following discussions will reinforce these inconsistencies as Iran’s conduct fall short on the standards of the international community. The following discussion is based on the claims forwarded by journals and articles on Iran in the past decades.  A.  Restricted Expression The civil liberty of freedom of expression has been a recurring issue in highly conservative countries like Iran. In the study made by  (2003) Iran has apparently been improving on this civil liberty. However, the author indicated that the improvement was rather slight that some parts of the Iran social structure still suffer from suppression. Over a decade ago, there have been reports that the intentions for democratic reforms in countries like Iran are considered shams and hypocritical as a considerable number of “dissident” publications are beleaguered by the state and even closed down its operations as the abuse of power still lingered. However, recent reports have noted that liberal newspapers still continued to operate.  (2000) even noted that these newspapers were the ones that are responsible for the outcome of democratic processes in Iran like the 1997 and 2000 elections. However, continuous operations or the slight tolerance provided for by the state did not mean that the harassment that these newspapers encounter ceased as well. Numerous liberal newspapers has closed down and eventually re-opened at a different name to provide the Iranian public with liberal views and direct reaction on the Islamic Republic. The most recent casualties of the repression of the press are the newspaper , (2007)   B.  Issues on Gender The issue of gender inequality in the country is also been discussed by numerous articles all over the world. Iran is characterised as a highly patriarchal society. (2007) This means that it is inherent in the culture of the country that men have a considerable level of ascendancy over the female population. This is reinforced with the discussion of the civil code of above where even the legal constructs of the country tends to favour men over women. This shows that the struggle for equality still is facing uphill battles as the issues of male domination is highly ingrained in the Islamic culture. ( 2004)  Despite of the reforms attempted to fix the conditions of gender inequality in the country (like the ratification of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights in Iran), this seemed to have insignificant effect on the conduct of the state towards its female population. (2007) Violent activities like the crude concept of “honour killings” and vicious dispersal of demonstrations geared towards claiming for more women’s rights are still prevalent in the country. Despite the intention of the public to change the existing conditions against women, the problem may have been in the cultural construct which may well be too deep a problem to address.    C.  Presence of Due Process in the Justice System This part of the discussion will look into the practice of torture, capital punishment, and the presence of due process in Iran. Based on sociological studies, the inherent constructs of society often maintains the norms and traditions. Early studies have maintained that Iran possess a disciplinary society. (1996) To a certain extent, this may be attributable to the country adhering strictly to Islamic norms and laws. In any case,  (1996) pointed out that the practice of torture is always present in a disciplinary society. Sadly, this practice is still observed as indicated in the work of  (2007) indicating that torture and unwarranted arrests were done on a frequent basis. The matter worsens as both men and women are subjected to such violence of torture in prisons as the state condones the practice. () Seeing this, it is apparent that there is not much change seen in the context of Iran.      In the same manner, the country is also one of the countries infamous of still practicing capital punishment. Though there are other “democratic” countries that implement this type of punishment, they don’t compare to the copious number of executions made in Iran. In 1989, Iran has sanctioned a thousand and five hundred executions. (1999) This amount may have been rather implausible at first. However, one must regard this as a country controlled initially by leaders sanctioning public executions, issuing fatwas allowing the rape of convicted women before they are executed, and even the permission of commencing on the execution of a pregnant woman. (2007) To an outsider, the state is merely sanctioning capital punishment unconscientiously along with uncanny provisions. However, when looked at closely, these uncanny provisions seemed to be the country’s regard on justice, as if the state is doing the public a great favour.    D.  Treatment of Religious and Ethnic Minorities There have also been accounts of harassment and hostilities towards the minorities residing in Iran. For instance, the Baha’i religion and its practitioners have been shunned by the Iranian government and have refused recognition for several decades already. ( 2004) In 1998, there have been reports that an Iranian citizen has been executed by the state with charges of converting another to the Baha’i faith. () Earlier studies regarding the religious minorities of Iran claim that the practitioners of Baha’i are considered apostates of the state. This means that inherent contempt is already afforded to these minorities. (1995) Other religions practiced in the Islamic Republic include Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Hebrew. (Amuzegar, 1995, 26) As they are afforded some level of practicing religious freedom, there are still restrictions on their movement in the country. They are also given seats in the Majlis but are not allowed to hold high ranking positions in the government and the judicature. (1995)    E.  Battling the Political Opposition Reports regarding the treatment of the political opposition in Iran are considerably alarming. Basically, those who stand against the government, for some reason, end up being political prisoners. In the later parts of the 1990s, the political prisoners of Iran were approximately 19,000. (1997) This shows that the leadership and the system that operates in Iran tends to manifest a suppressive disposition against those who go against the established norms and provisions practiced and implemented in the country.     Connected to this oppression of the state is seen in the rather restricted level of freedom of expression. Reports on arrests made on organisation leaders as well as journalists have made it to international attention. (2007) This means that mere expression on opinion may trigger a visit from law enforcement officers especially if those set of expressed opinions are in opposition to certain actions or policies forwarded by the state. Thus, the environment that surrounds the common Iran citizen provides a situation where they have to vigilantly monitor their expressed views. Otherwise, they might end up spending time in incarceration like the hundreds that were imprisoned because of their beliefs and convictions.    F.   Treatment of Children In the article of  (2007) they mentioned the “martyrdom” of the underage members of the Basiji movement that took part in the Iran-Iraq war. Basically, the members of this movement not only fought in the war, they also took on odd tasks to help the Iranian forces in battler. (2006) pointed out in his article that some of the task handed to these individuals include sweeping of landmines. To an outsider, this may look as suicidal missions made with half-cooked consideration. However,  (2006) mentioned that these members significantly have a strong and devout regard on these types of missions. In any case, despite the fact that these decisions made by the youngsters themselves, these are influenced by politically motivated ends managed by those who should be looking after their welfare.  Looking at this scenario in Iran, it appears that the younger population are not within protected from abuse, or at least from the misguided decisions of adults. In any case, the children and those still not of age are placed in harms way which similarly places their future in a compromising spot. According to the work of  (2007) the government of Iran may have been the only one in the world who sanctions the execution of young delinquents and incarcerating offenders as young as six years old. For some reason, the views of justice in the Islamic Republic seems to adhere strictly on religious inferences of justice without regard on issues of intent or age on the part of the offender.    III. The Status in the International Community The case of Iran has not gone unnoticed in the international community. Along with the issues human rights violations, there are also certain issues that have kept the world’s top political economies on their toes.  This will be taken into consideration in the following discussions. In the same regard, the opinion of the international community will also be pointed out. Iran is one of the few countries in the Middle East that have to establish a nuclear programme to address the energy issues of the country. However, the international community has become really wary of the existence of a programme that could also lead to the creation of a nuclear arsenal. (2006) The efforts of the international community like the “EU-3”, a united front composed of France, UK and Germany, are among the diplomatic activities which sought to address the nuclear proliferation activities of Iran. Other countries like China, US, and Russia pitched in to help the international community to convince the Islamic Republic to prevent the nuclear programme to develop into a workable arms manufacturing capability. (2006) This capability of Iran to make its nuclear programme into a establishing a weapons capacity tends to work to the disadvantage of the country. Some articles have noted that Iran could follow the tragic and catastrophic conditions of Iraq. (1994) This notion of Iran actually possessing the capability to create weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is peculiarly familiar with the initial conditions seen in the case of Iraq. Currently, talks between influential countries are still in the process. However, there is still the possibility that the international community could react the way it did with the Iraq case. (2006) To a certain extent, courses of action pending the failure of Iran to comply with international standards and concurrent demands are also in order.     IV.Synthesis The review of literature presented the existing conditions in the environment of Iran. In the same manner, discussions pertaining to the social and religious foundations of the norms of the Islamic Republic have also helped in understanding the conditions of the country. The issue pertaining to the consideration of the international community in Iran transcends the issues human rights and nuclear programme. The literature presented that the most influential nations in the world has been giving their share of the action in improving, or at least attempting to improve, the social errors and in the same time avert the possibility of further discord among the Iran and the rest of the world.     Chapter 3 Methods and Procedures   I.     Research Methods The study intends to use a qualitative form of research. (2002) indicated in his work that there exist at least three modes of conducting this type of research method: interview; participant observation; and document analysis.  Basically, the paper intends to acquire data through the literature and through interviews. In using the existing literature, the researcher provides a critical perspective on the present conditions involved in the area of research. (2004) In this manner, the past account on the issues pertaining to the legal regime and human rights laws in both Iran and the international community will be established. The researcher will also employ interviews as a primary means of acquiring data. Interviews are often employed by asking questions relevant to the study to specific informants. (2002) Basically, the study will employ an unstructured interview to the respondents. In this manner, the questions that will be asked are able to be flexible such that the respondents could easily understand them. () In deciding to employ an unstructured interview, the researcher does not create a pre-arranged set of questions. The process will start from the researcher asking a general question pertaining to Iran and its supposed human rights violations and consequently work on the succeeding responses of the respondents. With this, the researcher anticipates to collect a rich data from the respondents. However, the researcher also recognises that there is also the possibility of acquiring data that is irrelevant to the study. In any case, the researcher will constantly be at guard of any instances in the interview process which veers away from the general topic.     II.           Respondents The primary data will come from the interview of the respondents of this study. The respondents will include an Iranian family who have relocated to the UK. In order to gain access to these intended respondents, the researcher will ask the help of one of the members, Leila, which happens to be a colleague. Upon gaining permission to the colleague and the rest of the family, the researcher will be scheduling an appointment for the interview process. Since the data acquisition is using an unstructured interview, the researcher could inform the respondents that the interview will be very casual and devoid of any formal or rigid forms of questioning.    Moreover, the researcher will require the interview of the respondents to be on a one-to-one (2002). With this method, the researcher will be able to recognise the individual reactions of the respondents on the questions and the manner on how they convey their responses. In the same regard, the answers of the respondents will be based on their individual regards and not influenced by the views of the other family members. In using the family the researcher’s colleague, the researcher is able to require different perspectives of the situation of Iran from different age groups.   III.         Ethical Issues There are major ethical implications in using the qualitative form of research. For instance, the reliance of the analysis of the findings on the existing literature tends to be open to possible omissions of citations and proper references on the academic works. In this regard, the researcher will have to be constantly aware of the proper citations to avoid any violation of intellectual properties. In the same regard, the study will also rely on the respondents’ answers to the interview questions. In any case, the researcher will ensure that the responses of the respondents will solely be used for academic purposes.        Chapter 4 Presentation, Interpretation, and Analysis of the Data The following chapter will be giving the analysis of the responses of the primary respondents. Basically, the data will be held in line with the study objectives pointed out in the first chapter of the paper. Moreover, analysis of the claims made by the respondents will similarly be examined in relation to the discussed elements found in the second chapter of this dissertation.   I.     Background of the Respondents The primary data acquired for analysis in this paper is taken from an unstructured one-on-one interview with a family who have migrated from Iran several years ago. The data acquisition was rather casual and comparable to plain day-to-day conversation. For the purposes of this discussion, the respondents are classified as follows: RF1 – female respondent 1 (mother) RF2 – female respondent 2 (Eldest) RF3 – female respondent 3 (younger) RF4 – female respondent 4 (younger) RM1 – Male respondent 1 (father) RM2 – Male Respondent 2 (son)   Though there were five of them who were interviewed, the majority of the quotes and responses that are used in this paper, and have proven to be rather useful, are those that came from RM1, RF1, and RF2. The data acquired from the rest of the respondents were rather less functional as they vaguely remember the conditions in Iran when they lived there. Thus, the interview from these respondents never really progressed into tackling some of the points that this paper intends to address.    II.   Failed Attempt of the International Community with Iran The previous chapters have pointed out that the international community has been in constant correspondence with the Iranian government regarding their conduct towards the people within their borders. In relation to this, the respondents have pointed out several elements that may be the reasons that these attempts by the international community has failed. These include the cultural, religious, legal and political foundations of Iran.    A.  Cultural and Religious Foundations Based on the previous chapters, arguments and observations has been made regarding the problem of human rights violations in Iran as rooted in more profound factors in both the culture in Islamic Republic and the religious traditions held in the country. This has also been implied in the responses of the resource persons for this paper. The presence of human rights violations was apparently incontrovertible as it is regarded as a normal everyday occurrence. One of the respondents (RF2) indicated that:   “Even as a kid, I am aware that some of the ways they treat people are not appropriate. I remember my parents having difficulty answering when I ask them certain things I saw on the street.”    The response is evidently a recount on her memories of Iran as a young girl. This statement points out the actual existence of the actions of the state pertaining to violations on the rights of the common man. So as the claim indicates that these violations are actually done, what is more disturbing is that these deeds are done in plain sight, even in the presence of young people. Apparently, this claim suggests that the civil liberties (or the lack of it) that has been discussed in the second chapter of this paper seems to have been supported by these comments from the respondents. Though, the response does not clearly indicate what type of breach of civil liberty was taking place at that time, the realisation of a person as young as she is at that time that there is something dreadfully inappropriate happening proves that the people in Iran are indeed aware of the social situation in their country. For instance, the patriarch of the family (RM1) placed a very practical observation in the relationship of religion and society in Iran. He noted that:   “The context of human rights when used with reference to Islam normally point out those that were given by Allah… which means those that are indicated in the Koran.”   Looking at the said claim, it shows that the implications of the religious practices and norms that are detailed in the Koran tend to heavily manifest itself in the social context. To a certain extent, this response made by the patriarch tends to suggest that comparing the interpretation of the context of human rights in the view of Iran with the rest of the democratic world seems to be comparing apples and oranges. To a certain point, the actions made by the Iranian state tend to draw justifications from the principles of Islam and the teachings of the Koran. As a result, the use of violence seems to be infused with the countries means of social control. As pointed out in the claim of  (1996) in the second chapter of this dissertation, the country has become generally disciplinary. Seeing that by the strict adherence on Islamic principles could result to something that could be considered human rights violations, one could just imagine what will happen to societies where the Islamic laws are infused with the legal framework of the country. In any case, the claims made in the initial chapters of this dissertation that the infusion of violence in the culture of Iran may have been the key element that makes it unworkable for the country to comply with the internationally accepted rules regarding human rights. This might be, after numerous years of negotiations and persuasion, the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to become one of the centres of attention of the international community in terms of human rights violations.      B.  Political and Legal Foundations Along with the infusion of Islamic principles in the social framework of Iran, legal identity and foundations of the country is similarly based on the laws laid out in the Koran. The second chapter of this paper indicated that the laws from the constitution, the civil laws, to the penal code are based on principles of Islam. Seeing the constitution of Iran, the context of human rights do reflect on it, however, when it comes to the civil code and the system of punishment, these policies comes to a complete turnaround. One of the respondents (RM1) noted that:   “Rights are not tantamount to those that were made in legislature, so I think this could be a reason that some inconsistencies in the accepted laws in other countries and those in Iran are present.”   This observation may have some truth in it. The political and legal foundations of the country have to adhere closely to the principles of Islam, but questions still remains as to whether this justifies the supposed violations that they have incurred in the past years. To examine this situation, it appears that the state implementing these laws tend to view the interpretation of these laws in the strictest, most conservative, and most one-sided means possible. It places a compartmentalised regard on society where the leaders of the state are omniscient experts on what should be and what should not. For the most part, events like the closure of the Shargh and the Al Jezeera seems off the principles of the state as embedded in their constitution. This is similarly true for the presence of killings and murder based on the context of honour or even fatwas sanctioning rape. (2007)      Normally, calls for reforms may have been expected to be one of the sensible actions made by the people of Iran or even the international community. However, this may not be as simple as it seems in the case of Iran. This is reflected in the response of one of the interviewees (RF2) claiming that:   “The problem with these laws being given by Allah himself is that no mere mortal could amend it… only Allah could change it.”   Basically, in looking at the statement given above, this could only be reflective of a strict interpretation of the Islamic principles infused in the legal framework of the country. Moreover, this claim may have been contrary to the claims given by (2003) stating that some improvements, no matter how slight they are, has been observed on the part of the Iranian government as they started to recognise and somehow implement the internationally accepted standards for civil liberties. Again, this goes back to the profound influence of culture and religion. For some reason, the legal principles that are ratified in Iran seem to be subjected to the whims of its leadership. One of the respondents (RF1) observed that:   “For some reason, the laws on equality seem to be considered as a set of suggestions… not rules to be followed.”   Sadly, the reports pointed out in the second chapter regarding the restriction of press freedom, gender inequality, violence in the penal system, mistreatment of minorities, and political repression essentially reinforced the truthfulness of this claim.  III. Conducting Humanitarian Interventions This part of the chapter is going to detail the humanitarian interventions made by the international communities and the legal justifications of their activities on Iran. In line with this, the focus will be on the humanitarian interventions conducted related with the human rights violations made by Iran. Furthermore, the responses of the Iranian family interviewed for this dissertation will be the basis on the justifications as they point out the atrocities in the Iranian society.    A.  Attempts of Intervention Made by International Institutions Intervention at this point is defined by the actions made by the international community made to make the Iran government push for reform. The following discussions will be based on the comments provided by the respondents on these actions coming from the international community.   1.    United Nations The United Nations have taken the responsibility of incessantly reminding the Iranian government of the unacceptable acts of violence done in their country. The respondents (RM1) commented on the issue claiming that:    “Several attempts from the UN was made, I mean I think there has been more after we left for the Sweden and even when we settled here, but I think the UN appears to show it as mere ‘reminders’ and not enough substance in the order.”   This claim manifests that UN has never been trying hard to make Iran change its ways, and apparently they failed miserably in the past years. In the article made by (1997) it shows that the UN is apparently running in circles with Iran, especially in the context of women’s rights. Basically, the article pointed out that with the talks that the UN made with Iran, the latter will merely accepts the proposal with the promise of considering it and pushing for reform. However, in reality, the said proposal will only be stuck amidst the myriad of proposals made for Iran to consider. At the rate that the UN is going, significant improvements on the conditions of human rights in Iran would still be implausible. To some degree, the lost of hope is imminent among those living in the Islamic Republic. This sentiment is shown in the comment provided for by one respondent (RF2) claming that the United Nations should employ “less talk and more action. That’s the problem when things go overly diplomatic.”     2.    European Union The European Union has made talks with the government of Iran; however it is not entirely focused on the issue of human rights violations. (2004) The talks basically focus on the nuclear proliferation in Iran. Appended to these talks, regardless on how minor it is, is the issue on human rights. However, there are still reservations on the willingness or at least a glimmer of possibility of Iran trying to consider these talks seriously. One of the respondents (RM1) gave his observation on these talk processes between the prominent members of the EU and Iran. He noted that:   “I appreciate the initiative of the EU to deal with the issues of human rights in Iran, but a little pressure I think would have significantly positive effects.”   The claim above still focuses on the issue of human rights. However, one should realise that the European Union could not directly take on these sensitive issues as diplomacy should still be considered. Besides, as noted by  (2004), the EU and Iran has strong ties with regards to trading. The article noted that in 2001, over a quarter of Iran’s overall exports came from the regional bloc. This complicates things and possibly why the EU could not take a stand similar to that of the US. Another respondent (RF1) also pointed out the issue of security on the part of the EU as she noted that   “I think the EU treats Iran the way they do with regards to the human rights violation is because of their nuclear capability.”    3.    United States of America Same as the intention of the EU, the Unites States has taken a stand against the nuclear proliferation programme of the Islamic Republic. This issue is similarly compounded by the issue against human rights. (2004) However, unlike the case of EU, the United States, with George W. Bush at the helm, threatened Iran to back down with the use of military pressure backed up by the UN along with economic sanctions. The respondents have been reacted positively on this stand by the US. One of them even noted that   “The US should continue what they are doing. Sometimes a bully should be bullied back.”    One must give emphasis on the fact that the respondents have experienced the atrocities in Iran first hand. However, the emphasis of the threats made by the US is merely caused by the nuclear threat posed by Iran and not the actual treatment of the state towards its citizens. However, the respondents deem that with the Iranian leadership succumbing to such threats may possibly take the atrocities a notch lower, or even eradicate it totally. The problem is that the repercussions of the threats made, if Iran calls the United States’ claim seriously, opens the possibility of a nuclear strike coming from both countries. This paints a grim future for the rest of the world.     B.  Legality of Humanitarian Interventions Based on the discussions above, it appears that the respondents are highly inclined towards the implementation of humanitarian interventions towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. Seeing the aversion of the respondents to the “overly diplomatic” stand that the EU has been showing and the rather hopeful regard to the intentions of the US emphasizes this claim.  However, actual humanitarian intervention campaigns have yet to show encouraging outcomes, especially those orchestrated by the United States. Best examples on these campaigns are the US-led NATO campaign on Kosovo and the recent military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, all three became the subject of heated debates on the legality of the actions of the US. The troubling thing about the case of Iran is that the subjects on which the United States declaring appears to emulate what has been done in the Iraqi situation: possibility of nuclear proliferation as a primary issue and human rights violations as one of the secondary charges. As accounts indicated in the Iraqi case, the attacks of the US are under the cloak of security. (2001) Basically, the interventions made by the United States were based on their context of self-defense. ( 2001) In any case, the use of force was considered as a violation of the established UN Charter. Along with the NATO’s humanitarian involvement, attacks in Afghanistan, and military involvement in Iraq, were among what Glennon (2003, 18) noted as the Bush Doctrine.       IV.Dealing with Issues of Human Rights Violations The following sections are among the several recommendations pointed out by the respondents in the interview pertaining to the solutions that could be done in minimising or even completely eradicating the continuous infliction of human rights violation on the people of Iran. The discussions will also be supported by articles and journals directly related to the issues of Iran.   A.  Possibility of Democratisation The idea of democratisation on the part of Iran is seen in the comment of two of the respondents (RM1 and RF2). In the case of RM1, he noted that   “Iran should start considering reforms, one good way to start is by practicing democratic processes.”    Thus, for the purposes of this discussion, the definition of  (2005) on democratization will be operational in this paper. Basically, the said author indicated that “signifies a move toward greater degrees of political participation in existing governmental systems. In essence, it enhances the collective freedom of the citizen vis-a-vis the state, especially in terms of the public’s ability to participate in and influence the government.” ()   The definition specifically states that not only the entire political process will be subjected to changes, but also other underlying elements like the legal framework as well as the other factors that have a significant effect on the social structures of the state. The respondents seem to see this as a rather constructive way to alleviate the current situation of the people in Iran. One respondent (RF2) even claimed that “I don’t see why Iran could not apply democratic principles while keeping true with Islamic traditions.”   This indicates that though the people in Iran see the need for reform to change their conditions, they still regard the basic spiritual and religious foundations that they adhere to as central to their identity as Iranians. However, in an account of  (2005, 87) in the democratisation of Middle Eastern countries, it appears that a strong resolve should be present on the part of those trying to democratise these nations. One must bear in mind that the traditionally, the political institutions in these countries have been under authoritarianism. And for obvious reasons, the leaders like it to stay that way.  (2005) even noted that these leaders could even allow the nation to go through the process of democratisation not with the intention of instilling change, but to acquire power and authority once more. In the end, the democratisation process will end up as a big farce unless democratic countries like the United States and regional blocs like the EU do their share to prevent this from happening.     B.  Continued Talks with the Iranian Government In looking at the process on which the EU has acquired in pushing for reform on the part of Iran, it is not all that bad. Treaties and dialogues between Iran and the international community is healthy in keeping order, especially considering that the method acquired by the US in Iraq still leaves them in conflict with the locals, though this paper would not go so far as to call it a failure. In any case, these talks made with the Iranian government should still be regarded as an important element in pushing for reforms. To some extent, this shows the Iranian authorities that their actions are being monitored by the international community. As one of the respondents (RM1) noted, “Iran should be aware that the world is watching.” And this is what these talks are accomplishing, it makes Iran aware not only that the world is watching, but also that the time for reforms is imminent. However, these talks should be taking strides such that actual positive outcomes should be visible. Otherwise, it will only affirm the initial reactions of the respondents who regarded these talks as a waste of precious time. RF2 noted that “someone should talk sense to the political leaders of Iran.” That is correct. But as pointed out by the discussions on the article of (2005) with the profound origins and roots in the country, the end-goal seems heading towards a gloomy end.         C.  Sanctions Made by the International Community This suggested course of action is acquired from the response of two of the resource persons (RM1 and RF2). Basically, the most palpable manifestation of such actions is seen in the comment of RF2 claiming that: “At the rate Iran is going, sanctions like embargo or (God forbid) humanitarian interventions coming from the international community is starting to look like bright ideas.”   However, one must realise that there has yet to be a campaign that went directly on Iran which dealt primarily on the issue of human rights violations. The closest case that the international community could adhere to is when NATO took actions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) (2003). Reports claimed that aside from the military activities done by the international coalition towards the country; they have similarly given economic sanctions on FRY. According to the study of  (2003) the member countries of NATO stopped any trade, specifically export and re-export of goods, coming from the states in FRY.   In any case, though this action seems to fall into the context of retaliation, the international community should deem as to whether attacking Iran both through economic and military means would ensue positive implications.  However, as Iran adheres to the same principles, its actions should not go unpunished. This sentiment is shared by one of the respondents (RM1) as he claimed that for “all those years of atrocity, someone has to answer for them.”    V.  Subconclusion The discussions in this chapter provided a detailed presentation on the sentiments of the respondents regarding the situation in Iran. Based on the data above, it shows that the eldest members of the resource group still feels significantly concerned with the situation in their country. They even regarded the possibility of any reforms to be unlikely as they see the problem lies deep in the identity of the country. With this, it is apparent that the respondents see that the Islamic Republic will not be able to change on its own, intervention from other countries will be necessary to bring about any semblance of change or reform in Iran.   Chapter 5 Conclusions, and Recommendations I.     Summary The dissertation has provided a background description of the conditions present in Iran. The study used qualitative research to acquire data and analysed it in line with the reports on the current conditions with the country based on the academic and scholarly journals. The resource people who helped for the completion of the paper were a part of a family who have migrated from the Islamic Republic several years ago. Their responses and comments basically reinforced the claims in existing literature pertaining to the human rights conditions on Iran. Along with these comments, the study has also given a discussion on the possible origins and roots of the atrocities and culture of violence in Iran. As indicated in the earlier parts of the paper, the religious and cultural foundations of the country has been the key in determining why the other factors that affect their social framework operates the way that they do. In the same way that the social constructs in Iran are based on Islam, so are the political and legal frameworks of the country. The dissertation has made it clear that the profound causes of what the rest of the democratic world see as violations of human rights, are deeply ingrained in the consciousness of Iran as a country. Further discussions on these claims will be given in the subsequent parts of this chapter.       II.   Conclusions The conclusions to be made in this part of the chapter are based on the summary above as well as claims given in the previous chapters of this paper. Moreover, the discussions will also be trying to address the central and secondary questions posed in the earlier part of this dissertation. Upon careful deliberation, it is seen that the Iranian people, both in and out of the country, are tired of the situation of human rights in the country. They desire reforms and observable changes in policies which may also have an effect on their situation in society. The comments and observations made by the respondents reflect this claim. Unlike our resource people, not all Iranians are able to flee the atrocities and choose a place of refuge. There are still people experiencing what our respondents flee from, as indicated in the recent reports regarding the human rights violations in Iran.    And based also in the discussions in the previous chapters, it appears that the international community is also concerned with the human right violations reported in Iran. However, their apprehension regarding the conduct of the state towards its people is shadowed by the possibility of nuclear proliferation on the part of Iran. On this regard, the international community appears to have their hands tied in terms of dealing with the human right atrocities in the country. The international community do want to help the Iranian people on their plight but the nuclear issue is more pressing as it involves the consideration of national security on their own territories. Thus, this dissertation sees the diplomatic methods used by the EU would be the most beneficial means of taking the support of the Iranian government. As stated above, the talks appear to be attempting to hit several birds at once: the issues on nuclear proliferation and human rights violations among others.  The truth of the matter is that if the people of Iran really want change, it is up to theme to deal with the social injustices that they are subjected. Reports noted in the second chapter have indicated that there are already attempts made by the public to empower their rights. However, these attempts has been thwarted effortlessly by the government as most of these people are taken as political prisoners and even charged with capital punishment. And apparently, the government makes it known to the public the harsh future that awaits those who oppose the state. At this point, one could not blame the Iranian public from being afraid as the repressive powers of the state are considerably immense, especially when those enforcing these powers deem that they are doing things at the bidding of their faith. It is the contention of this paper that the intervention of the rest of the international community should be forwarded to the people of Iran. Intervention should come in the form of empowering the Iranian public, those who actually wants change to happen. Though the international community should still continue talks with the government, constant cooperation with the rest of those battling social injustices should also be done to realise the intention of forwarding a united front from both the international community and those holding political power in Iran.       III. Recommendations The following recommendations are based on the conclusions and discussions in the previous chapters of this dissertation:   Encourage change from within   The group holding power in the Islamic Republic must as well be aware of the situations and atrocious nature of the punishment in the country. As stated by one of the respondents in this paper, someone must talk sense to these people. Hopefully, they could recognise that such reforms are needed, even demanded, by the public.   Continue dialogues with the Iranian government   The EU along with other regional blocs and international organisations should continue dialogues with the Iranian government regarding the state of human rights, possibly along with the issue of nuclear proliferation. Though the approach of the US regarding the issue seems appealing, the diplomatic approach held by the EU may still be preferred by the rest of the democratic world. Basically, the methods noted in the former only gives the illusion of progress as the latter manifest a considerably sluggish development. In any case, this study feels that diplomacy would do good for the international community.   Avert any possible acts of force against Iran   Along the lines of the previous recommendation, the international community should also be wary of any aggressive actions against Iran. The armed movements made by NATO and the terror campaigns led by the United States should be indicative of the possibility of another armed campaign towards the Islamic Republic. International organisations like the United Nations should learn its past mistakes and take a firm hand in controlling the United States for any possible actions that will compromise the safety of the rest of the globe.       Empower the Iranian Public       This recommendation does not indicate any action that would compromise the relationship of the international community with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Subtle reinforcement like recognition and demands for reform though mass media would be more than sufficient.       </div> Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN :AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVENTIONS CONDUCTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 . 4 Problem and its Background . 4 I. Introduction . 4 II. Background of the Topic...