Sociology of National Security: A Case Study on the Islamic Republic of Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

This article intends to analyze and appraise the social foundations of social security. The author believes that states can conventionally play four roles including removal of conflict, representation of society, expediency, and reconstruction of human and a modern society. From among the four functions, the second and third functions appear appropriate to the analysis of the state in the Third World countries. These different behavioral patterns necessitate national security in the Third World be considered as arising from a specific formation continuing historically and socially rather than the result of international power structure or autocratic regimes. On this ground, this article seeks to view national security as a variable dependent on social processes and relations. Such an argument is derived from the assumption that despite the increase in state vulnerability, the area of citizens’ power has grown as well. This equation demands a new comprehensive analysis, which in recent versions is translated into the strength of society and state efficiency and legitimacy in reducing domestic harms and foreign threats and not just into the absolute state authority.

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