Strategic Studies Quarterly

Abstract The paper considers the relationship between nation-building strategies and uneven regional development in Iran during Pahlavi’s era and the Islamic Republic of Iran and raises the question of effects of their strategies of nation-building on regional imbalances witnessed in Iran. And its main hypothesis is as follows: in spite of different results of the strategies of nation-building in the two eras, both of them have led, to some extent, to regional uneven development. The findings of this paper have been illustrated through causal explanation and they indicate that among different elements of strategies of nation-building, some common factors like political and economic decentralization, and top-down reforms have been followed in the both eras and they have been creating uneven development in Iran.
 

Abstract Based on the findings of the paper, continuous uneven development in Iran has led to problems as follows: continuation of migration from less developed regions to developed regions, inequality in population density, growing density of the population in developed regions, rising of marginalization around metropolitans, increasing risks for biosphere centers and tensions in utilization of the resources. These problems, in the medium and long term can lead to threat of social solidarity and cohesion, fragile national economy and political divergence which pose a threat against national security.