To specify the goals and agenda-setting are among the most important stages and aspects of strategic and national planning. Due to this importance, this article seeks to methodologically and systematically analyze national goals using a conceptual approach. To do this, it initially considers the components of planning at various international, national and supranational levels as a whole or a system. Admitting the presence of different patterns in the location and seniority or inferiority of these components, the author specifies the nature and place of national goals in relation to other components like ideals, values, interests, strategies and so on. Then he tries to classify national ends according to such criteria as timing, division of areas, and resources. The author is of the belief that national goals should be formulated and declared in a general, scheduled, quantitative, transparent, calculable, and logical way consistent with the population’s aspirations and beliefs so that they serve as a connecting bridge between micro demands and objectives, and ultimate ideals and ends.The last part of the article seeks to explain the relationship between the Islamic Republic’s 20-year view and national ends, and clarifies its status among the political system’s overall policies and 5-year development plans. Finally, the author proposes certain directives for the further adaptation of 20-year view’s instrument with the characteristics of national goals.
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