AUIQ Humanities and Social Sciences

The rise of digital technologies has significantly transformed the nature, structure, and experience of human relationships across multiple domains. This review critically examines how digital platforms such as social media, messaging applications, online dating sites, and AI-driven interfaces have reshaped interpersonal connections, including friendships, romantic relationships, and family dynamics. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from psychology, communication studies, sociology, and media theory, the review explores themes such as digital intimacy, parasocial interactions, performative relationships, remote caregiving, and the ethics of AI-mediated emotional engagement. Special attention is given to underrepresented populations (e.g., older adults, neurodiverse individuals), as well as longitudinal and developmental gaps in current research. The article identifies both opportunities and challenges presented by digital relationship technologies, emphasizing the importance of contextual factors such as platform design, user intention, and communication norms in shaping relational outcomes. The review concludes by calling for more inclusive, long-term, and ethically guided research to inform future developments in digital relational technologies and ensure they support rather than undermine human connection.

This study addresses noise as a social and legal phenomenon that reveals the persistent tension between individual freedom of expression and the collective right to public tranquility, It examines the philosophical foundations of criminalization in light of the harm principle and the concept of public order, with a comparative analysis of Iraqi, French, and Italian legislation, The research highlights mechanisms of criminal balance by focusing on preventive administrative measures, non-custodial sanctions, and the principle of proportionality as a standard for legitimate restrictions, It concludes that safeguarding public tranquility does not require excessive penal severity, but rather a graduated framework that reconciles individual freedom with the protection of collective interests

In the context of accelerated globalization and the proliferation of digital media, youth are increasingly navigating complex cultural terrains where global influences intersect with local traditions. This study examines how young people aged 15–25 construct hybrid cultural identities through their engagement with platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Drawing on cultural hybridization theory, Bhabha’s concept of Third Space, and Castells’ network society framework, the research employs a mixed-methods design incorporating semi-structured interviews, digital ethnography, and content analysis of over 8,000 social media posts from 300 participants across diverse socio-demographic backgrounds. Findings reveal that youth identity is dialectical and fluid, emerging through dynamic negotiations between global trends and localized cultural anchors. Social media platforms function as hybrid spaces enabling identity experimentation, while also imposing algorithmic and economic constraints that shape cultural visibility. Intersectional factors such as class, gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation significantly mediate the form and freedom of hybrid identity expression. The study contributes to scholarly understandings of youth culture by integrating digital media studies with cultural hybridization theory and offering a conceptual model of identity construction in the digital age.

Assessing the research landscape of Iraqi public universities is crucial for national academic development, yet no comprehensive bibliometric analysis of its social science disciplines exists. Using a bibliometric approach, this study analyzes data from the Scopus database, to examine the research output in Political Science and International Relations from 15 Iraqi governmental universities; which have faculties of political sciences and/or international relations; during the period 2020–2024. The analysis reveals significant disparities in publication productivity and research impact among institutions. The University of Baghdad leads in publication volume, while institutions such as the University of Dohuk, University of Salahaddin, and University of Mosul, despite producing fewer publications, exhibit higher citation rates and field-weighted citation impact (FWCI). These findings suggest a centralization of publication quantity in Baghdad, alongside a generally low level of author productivity; publications per author. Additionally, the weak correlation between publication volume and citation impact indicates that higher number of publications does not necessarily equate to greater academic influence. These results provide an empirical basis for policymakers and academic leaders, suggesting that future strategies should prioritize fostering high-impact research at emerging centers of excellence rather than focusing narrowly on publication counts.

In recent times, tourism, especially e-tourism, has been catching the attention of researchers and scholars. Numerous studies have emerged aiming to explore internet technology’s role in transforming the tourism industry. This investigation aims to o er a systematic and stat of the art review of previous research on tourism and e-tourism based on sentiment analysis, a technique used in previous studies. Sentiment analysis is chiefly concerned with the analysis of tourists’ sentiments expressed in their reviews and experiences shared on digital platforms. To conduct our study, we relied on literature reviewed from three major digital databases, including Science Direct, IEEE Xplore, and Web of Science. We selected 41 articles divided into four major categories through the filtering and screening process. A detailed review of the studies in these four categories has been provided. We also performed a mapping analysis to make this review more robust and conclusive. In the end, we proposed some important future research agenda based on the TCCM (Theory, Context, Characteristics, and Methodology) framework.

The phenomenon of accelerated growth in government spending is one of the most prominent financial challenges facing the economies of many countries due to their limited economic resources and their inability to efficiently manage their available financial resources. This is due to their reliance on the item-based approach to preparing and implementing their general budgets. This approach is plagued by numerous flaws, the most notable of which is the focus on inputs and the neglect of outputs and outcomes during the planning process, as well as the weak role of the oversight tools it relies on in monitoring and overseeing implementation. Furthermore, the accounting system it relies on is unable to provide the necessary accounting and financial information to decision-makers. As a result, adopting the item-based approach leads to increased government spending. Conversely, numerous scientific studies, including our current study, indicate that implementing a program and performance approach increases the chances of successfully implementing a government spending rationalization policy. Program and performance budgeting enables decision-makers to evaluate government programs, verify the efficient use of resources, and reduce unnecessary spending. Its implementation also contributes to increasing the efficiency of resource allocation, supporting procedures for defining job responsibilities, and assessing the returns of government programs and the extent to which their objectives are achieved. Furthermore, the study concluded that the functions of planning, control, and performance evaluation, as well as the foundations and procedures of the accounting system upon which the general budget relies, play a vital role in the success of the rationalization policy.

The execution of criminal judgments must be carried out in accordance with the provisions approved by the law in accordance with the rules regulating it, and in a manner that does not contradict the rights of the convicts, taking into account the means that allow him to remove anything that contradicts that, and resorting to the judiciary to adjudicate on all the shortcomings that occur during the period of punitive execution. Implementation in a manner that achieves the goal of punishment in accordance with the modern concept of the penal policy represented in the rehabilitation, rehabilitation and reintegration of the convict into society, and ensuring the proper implementation of the punishment by addressing all components and elements of the intellectual, psychological and health structure of the personality of the convict, using various methods of punitive treatment aimed at achieving the desired reform purpose of the punishment, all within the framework of A constitutional guarantee and a clear codification that emphasizes the legal and judicial protections for everything related to the rights and freedoms of the convict during execution, which requires the state to direct all its energies towards performing its positive role in reform, so that the punitive implementation phase does not become a picture of an unjust punitive authority aimed at infringing on human rights.

waqf, which some Islamic jurists have permitted without restriction, while others have imposed specific conditions. The Iraqi legislator has not addressed the endowment of shares in joint-stock companies in the current Companies Law No. 21 of 1997, nor is it mentioned in Iraqi legislation related to waqf. In contrast, certain Islamic countries have incorporated provisions for such cases within their waqf laws. This legislative silence in Iraq has led to a reluctance among investors and shareholders to endow their shares, either partially or entirely. Assuming that the Iraqi Companies Law permits shareholders, under certain conditions, to dispose of their shares (whether through sale, donation, or otherwise), this would logically include the ability to endow them. However, several legal challenges arise most notably the requirement that a valid waqf be perpetual, whereas joint-stock companies may be dissolved or liquidated. This raises important questions about the legal status of such endowments and whether they fall under the category of interrupted waqf (waqf munqatiʿ), a concept discussed particularly by Imami jurists.