Hitherto, there is a huge debate among scholars about the relationship between humanistic studies, in general, and science. As a result one of the most negotiable issues is the social science. The question which has been raised is to what extent that the social studies can be perceived as a kind of science?  

Traditionally, science is defined as a field of knowledge which can be proved by truth (evidence) or fact. Science aims to achieve objective and universal knowledge that may serve humanity as a whole (Hohenberg,2010:7). So, science, in this meaning, stands opposition to other human activities such as art, politics, religion, history, etc. which were produced within the atmosphere of subjectivity. This traditional definition has been refuted by much arguments posed by scholars of social studies. Social sciences argued that the absolute true or pure scientific objectivity is just an unreal assumption, because of two main reasons. First, both philosophers and scientists have agreed that the possibility of objectivity or relativism is regarded as another factor of any scientific and humanistic research (Cunningham,1973:3-4). Second, social scholars believe that "the ideological doctrine of scientific method and all the philosophical verbiage about epistemology were cooked up to distract our attention from getting to know the world effectively by practicing the sciences" ( Haraway,1998:577).

As a result, there is no absolute truth in the natural sciences field such as physics, chemistry and biology, and in the social science as well. According to Haraway (1998:577) "all knowledge is a condensed node in an agonistic power field". Thus, social researchers should be fully aware about some terms which they have dealt with such as objectivity, subjectivity, truth, fact, science, and reality.

Obviously, these terms have their own specific meanings depending on the field and area of research. For example, objectivity in politics in general, and in international relations in particular tends to be subjective knowledge rather than to be objective, because of the nature of politics as a human activity. Thus, objectivity in politics can be defined as the distinction between the provisions of the fact, and standard provisions, among the issues that describe the reality of normative issues that reflect the value orientations of the individual.

In addition, international relations are interpreted not only through the pursuit of countries to achieve their special interests as well as international legal respect, but there have become issues in international relations which affect the researcher through the cultural and religious identity, such as the emergence of religion in international relations, though the religious dimension did not yet take too much space in the interest among researchers and scholars in the social humanities. It was neglected in the past because of the emergence of the social sciences, which accompanied the frameworks of scientific revolution in the natural sciences, which, in turn, provided a rational natural phenomena interpretations. Thus the impact of the social sciences is to provide rational explanations of human behavior as an alternative interpretation of theocracy and metaphysics.

The evolution of the social sciences from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century as a whole has led to an understanding that the transition from timeworn to modernity process will reduce the importance of religious and ethnic phenomena, especially in that secularism will succeed in shorthand and in the declinine of the importance of religion. But secularism and modernism were influenced by the failure of communist regimes and socialism in the world and the failure of modernization policies in many countries of the world led to the emergence of religious movements in reaction to the failure of modernization. In addition the development of modern communications has led to the globalization of several issues, including religion, forcing some governments to deal with it. Here are issues in international relations, which I do not analyze fully objectively, but there are some projections of my culture and religious identity.

As a result of the war on Iraq and the overthrow of the Iraqi Baath regime in 2003, the emergence of religious doctrines in the Gulf was put in a major conflict. There is no doubt that in the Gulf region suffers from sectarian religious conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, as Iran is a Shiite center, while Saudi Arabia is considered the center of the Sunnis. When addressing Bahrain situation, which suffers a doctrinal conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, and Iran's interference in Bahrain's internal affairs, I refuse to analyze this issue within the scope that Bahrain should be more democratic, because democracy will help the Shiites to control the power in Bahrain. Here I take this matter from the dimensions which affect the identity of the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain, and this identity touches me in my identity as an Arab, and Sunni. In addition, I see Iraq controlled by Iran's state through political parties and militias, which are of the Shiite doctrine.

Another example is about what happened in June 30, 2012 in Egypt, when Mohamed Morsi became president of the Arab Republic of Egypt in an official capacity. This reflects the first elected president in Egypt, who belongs to the Islamic movement "Muslim Brotherhood", but from a political point of view, "theocracy" religious systems cannot achieve development , modernity and freedom, and they play with religion to control people's minds. So my articles supported the military coup in July 3, 2013.

Identity as Background of Social Science

Researchers in this area have not agreed on a universal definition of the identity. According to Strauss (1959:9) the identity is determined by two factors, first the individual's self-evaluation, and second the evaluation by others. This mutual evaluation is very important to build identity because being limited to the evaluation of others leads to a lack of character building which makes the owner cheating and appears as others want, so the self-evaluation is very important in this process to stick balance in identity that are then the picture painted by the individual himself and those others are drawn by him. While, Ericsson’s definition of identity (38: 1960) is not much different from Strauss, but he explained the eight stages of the development of identity, including stages of childhood and adolescence and education (Fleming: 2004. Erikson’s Psychosocial Developmental).

Social Studies are dealing with the concept of identity in terms of a social product. They  determine the identity of the individual through his membership in one of the social groups or in many of them according to class, race, gender, generation, religion, region, ethnicity, and nation (Irivin, 2003:79). It follows from this that the individual's acquired identity or identities are reflected in his behavior , which is not only a product of what is taking shape in his mind and in the minds of others as a picture about him., According to  "Strauss" the identity is a composite of the individual’s assessment of himself and his evaluation by others, which would be motionless and permanent in regard to social variables that displace adds to the characteristics of the individual's identity, although it must be recognized that a measure of stability and change takes place slowly.

The Identity of Political Study

This identity has emerged in international relations with the emergence of the nation-state, which is often reflected in the appearance of the secular state. Robertson (1980: 21) knows nationalism as the relationship between the group and the individual or between the state and the individual, which comes as a reaction to other affiliations with different identities.

In addition, Political systems play an important role in the identity of individuals through political socialization in education and public programs and policies of governments (Almond and Powell.1998:63 - 77). As a result, there are some factors and influences which come from family, the university and lecturers, social environment, in addition to other effective factors initiated by the political situation of the State of the UAE (my country), the Gulf region and the Arab world.

There is no doubt that my personal identity and as researcher in international relations led me to the study of Turkish relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). As I belong to the UAE, which in turn is the Gulf state, that drives me to live with the Gulf regional and international wars as events affecting the security of the Gulf. My childhood witnessed the Gulf War between Iran and Iraq from 1980 to 1988. Then in adolescence there was the occupation and Kuwait Liberation 1990-1991war. These wars and instability in the Gulf region, and the US role in the stability of the region, have motivated interests in myself to understand the Gulf region, which includes different states (the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman). I also remember the hopes of some Emiraties to see the organization of the Gulf Cooperation Council (which was established in 1981, and included the six countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman) that was hoped to achieve security and stability. it is worth mentioning that my knowledge of the Gulf Cooperation Council started in school at the elementary level. When I got a bachelor and master’s degree  in political science, with love of reading and research and follow-up of international and regional events, I became a writer and political analyst at the Al Ittihad newspaper (all my essays  since 2006 to 20014 can be seen in this link:

(http://www.alittihad.ae/wajhatauthor.php?AuthorID=409)

Furthermore, there are regional and international events, which function as added external factors that are affecting my thesis in studying Turkish relations with GCC States. Of these factors, is that the Gulf region suffers from the lack of balance of power, as Iran has become (after the war on Iraq in 2003 and the overthrow of the Iraqi Baath regime) a strength not only in military terms but also as a center of attraction to the sectarian Shia in Iraq and in some GCC countries. Shiite power Iran comes across denominational affiliation of some groups and communities in the Gulf States to Shiism, which serves Iran and its strength in the Gulf.

An important external event is the Turkish Justice and Development Party win in the Turkish elections of 2002. It is considered an Islamic liberal or conservative party, that led to develop Turkish relations with GCC States. So Turkish policies toward the Arab and Gulf region are put in juxtaposition with those of Iraq and Iran. Also, Turkey had an ambition to cross the Islamic liberal political system, where the model can be applied to the Arab regimes. Turkey's new role with the Justice and Development Party creates a space as balance of power with Iran. This is normal in international relations, since the growth of Iranian power has a negative impact on the neighboring countries, including Turkey. In fact, the balance of power in the Gulf region will lead to stability in the region, albeit a deterrent militarily, politically and even culturally, as Turkey follows the Sunni sect.

In 2013, the United States began to converge with Iran in the case of the nuclear file, and Washington also said it will reduce the military and security presence in the Middle East, which has created an urgent need for the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council to consider the future of the security of the Gulf. For example, this rapprochement between Washington and Iran led to the development of relations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with Russia in the field of investments.

That stage was difficult not because of physical change, but also because of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 events, I remember that in those events a campaign started to recruit young people in the armed forces, and in the war to liberate Kuwait, and there was leave to attend school due to the beginning of the war to liberate Kuwait in 1991. This event planted in me a tendency to study politics through knowing about the history of the Arabian Peninsula. Also at this stage, I heard about the Iranian occupation of the three UAE islands.

A study material relating to neighboring countries of the Arab world, (Spain, Ethiopia, Turkey, and Iran), was lacking for this article expect for Iran. So when I completed a master’s degree, I studied master's thesis on the Arab-Spanish relations between 1945–2003. This is considered one of the reasons to write a PhD thesis on Turkish relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council States (GCC States).

There are some others factors that affected the Arab and religious identity, such as the Palestinian issue. For example, my first article was about the Palestinian cause in the events of the Palestinian uprising in 2000. It is worth mentioning that the Palestinian issue is an important focus in the development of relations between Turkey and the GCC states in my PhD thesis. Before graduating from the Bachelor stage in 2001, I was studying some material from the media and the press, I remember that the lecturer (Dr. Ibrahim) developed in us an incentive to write, with the reward that the student who can write in newspapers or magazines will have a special honor in the course. Then, I published four articles in the Gulf newspaper. This matter reflects the individual impact of external factors which may have contributed to push me effectively forward.

It can be concluded that scientific knowledge is still dependent on some external and internal factors which are related to the researcher and his field of study. Scholars always are looking for new methods and approaches to make whole knowledge as a scientific, but they still need much time to improve their techniques and tools. Personally, I will do my best, to be an objective researcher. I believe that the academic criteria will help me to reduce the subjectivity of individuality.

By Humaid Almansoori

Writer and political analyst

18/01/2015

References:

1. Abu Kashef, A.S.(2007) The Palestinian national identity (Case Study) Unpublished MA Thesis (Cairo: Faculty of Economics and Political Science)

2. Almond, A. G, Benjham, G, Powell, Jr. (1998) Policy Regimes Comparison of the Present Day, translated by Hisham Abdullah, eligibility for publication and distribution. Beirut: Al Adab Press.

3. Cunningham, F. (1973) Objectivity in Social Science. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.

4. Eriksson, E. (1960) The Problem of  Ego Identity, in Identity and Anxiety, edited by Maurice R. Stein, Arthur J. Vidich and David Manning White, Glencoe, lli. Free Press.

5. Fleming. (2004) Erikson’s Psychosocial Developmental Stages: http://swppr.org/textbook/ch%209%20erikson.pdf.

6. Hanf, T. (1984) From Empire to Neighborhood in IV. International Conference, Cultural Identity and Time, Euro-Arab Social Research Group, Cairo.

7. Haraway, D. (1998) Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, Vol.14, No.3.(Autumn, 1988),pp.575-599).

8. Hohenberg, C.P (2010) What is Science? New York University. Accessed on 6/1/2015.

http://physics.nyu.edu/~pch2/What_is_Science-December 2010a. pdf.

9. Iirvin, J (2003) Orientalism sexually. translation Adnan Hassan, Kdms for publication and distribution, the first edition, Beirut, 2003,

10. Robertson, R.(1980) Identity and Authority: Explorations in the theory of society, Oxford Basil Blackwell.

11. Strauss, A. L.(1977) Mirrors and Masks: The Search for Identify,  London: Fletcher and Son Ltd, Norwich.