Strategic Studies Quarterly

Abstract Introduction
A country's economic development is shaped by various factors, including geography, natural resources, access to technology, human and social capital, governance quality, and institutional effectiveness. Development scholars, depending on their theoretical perspectives, have emphasized the importance of different factors. This article focuses on one often overlooked but critical element: the role of security forces in economic development.
The central question here is: How do security forces impact economic development? The answer largely depends on how these forces interact with the institutions that shape development. Their impact can be positive or negative, based on whether they act within the boundaries of their professional mandate. When security forces align with national interests and objectives, they can significantly contribute to development. However, when they exceed these limits, the results can be harmful.
In this context, “security forces” refers to all individuals and institutions professionally involved in maintaining national security—primarily the military, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the judiciary. These actors are essential in maintaining internal stability and protecting nations from external threats, both of which are crucial for economic development.
 
Methodology
This is a theoretically driven study aimed at explaining the mechanisms through which security forces affect economic development. It draws on institutional economics as a conceptual framework and relies on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, both historical and contemporary, sourced from diverse materials.
 
Discussion and Results
The impact of security forces on development depends heavily on how they engage with the institutions that support economic growth. Sustainable development requires a cohesive framework where both formal and informal institutions support long-term, effective reforms. These institutions must protect property rights, enforce contracts, reduce transaction costs, promote competition and innovation, and build trust through transparency.
Security forces influence these institutional mechanisms in multiple ways. Their involvement in shaping, supporting, and enforcing the rules that underpin economic activity is not only common—it is often necessary. As state actors, they play a key role in ensuring the effective implementation of laws and policies.
One key benefit of security forces is the provision of public security, which reduces production, trade, and development costs by ensuring stability. They also contribute to resource redistribution, which is vital for social development. Economic growth isn’t only about GDP or income—it’s also about improving quality of life, which requires fair and efficient systems of redistribution. In these efforts, security institutions often play a pivotal role.
However, despite their potential benefits, security forces can also obstruct economic development in significant ways. The first major concern relates to mission drift—when these forces prioritize regime protection or elite interests over safeguarding economic freedoms such as property rights or free enterprise.
Another issue is oversizing: when the scale of security institutions exceeds actual national security needs, they can absorb disproportionate public resources. According to the principle of diminishing returns, security spending becomes unproductive when the additional costs no longer generate comparable gains in development. A notable example is the Soviet Union, where excessive military spending was a key factor in economic decline and collapse. By the late 1980s, security forces had become powerful enough to resist economic reforms altogether.
In many developing countries, weak laws and lack of oversight enable rent-seeking within security institutions. The appeal of unearned income often outweighs the rewards of productive economic activity. In extreme cases, this dynamic has even led to military coups, driven by access to state resources. Such interventions typically lead to instability, lawlessness, and uncertainty—all of which undermine development.
 
Conclusion
Security forces influence economic development in three primary ways, each with distinct consequences, as demonstrated by experiences in various countries:

Facilitating Development Mechanisms: When institutions that support development—such as property rights, labor rights, trade freedoms, and protections against poverty and discrimination—are in place or evolving, strong, accountable security forces are not just helpful but essential. Without them, contract enforcement and protection of property are impossible.
Rent-Seeking and Institutional Distortion: Here, security forces deviate from their intended role. With the power of coercion at their disposal, they are prone to rent-seeking and corruption. In such cases, they may prioritize maximizing their own budgets and benefits over national development goals.
Controlling Institutions Through Political Power: At this level, security forces – especially military forces - dominate the development process by taking direct control of the government. The historical record shows that military regimes often have poor economic track records and, in some cases, have led to major setbacks in development.

Abstract  
Introduction
This article proceeds in three steps: First, we attempt to show within a conceptual-theoretical framework that development in our era, the information age, has found a new dominant mode, which is called the Informational Mode of Development. While explaining this new mode of development, we attempt to show the driving role of this type of development to other aspects of development, such as economic development and human development. In the second step, by presenting a very concise picture of Iran's situation in some key indicators of information development, we show that despite the availability of conditions, Iran has not been able to provide the infrastructure and grounds required for informational development and the blessings that come from it, due to the defective way of dealing with ICTs and emerging technological phenomena on the one hand and neglect of the field of education and knowledge in recent years on the other. In the third step, we present a very concise analysis of the obstacles to informational development in Iran. Then in the conclusion section, we will point out some strategic imperatives for development within the framework of the informational mode of development.
Our conceptualization of the informational mode of development and informational development is largely indebted to Manuel Castells, Pekka Himanen and their colleagues in the book "Reconceptualizing Development in the Global Information Age"; However, we will use the discussions of people such as Klaus Schwab, William Brian Arthur and his discussion on "Economic Evolution Following Technological Evolution" and the findings of various researchers for further explanation.
Methodology
In the theoretical and conceptual part of the article, we rely on the meta-synthesis of existing research literature in this field. To measure Iran's status in the fundamental indicators of informational development, we use documentary studies and secondary data from existing global reports.
Discussion and Findings
Today, the competitiveness of territories and companies depends largely on their ability to follow the rules of the information economy. Research literature in this field shows a positive and synergistic relationship between informationalism and the productivity and competitiveness of countries, regions and companies. The realization of this synergistic relationship is conditional on the existence of three factors; factors that can be considered the three fundamental aspects of information development:

Adequate and optimal infrastructure in ICTs (technology diffusion)
Organizational transformation in the form of networking (for example, networked enterprise and e-government)
Increasing the quality of the human workforce, which depends on education and quality of life.

Accordingly, a country that wants to benefit from the blessings and advantages of information development in today's world must first have strong, extensive and comprehensive ICT infrastructures and constantly update and strengthen them at the level of the most developed countries in the world; second, companies and organizations in that country (both private and public, including the government itself) must be managed in a networked manner and also have strong links with global financial and commercial exchange networks; and third, there must be a knowledge-based and capable human resource to support this entire ecosystem of informational development. Emphasis on infrastructure and technical dimensions and neglect of network dimensions, especially human and knowledge dimensions, will cause the information development cycle to remain incomplete and unstable. Even if economic growth is achieved in the short term, the country may move away from holistic development due to increasing inequalities, poverty, and the digital-income gap.
This is while Iran's situation in global indicators related to the development and application of ICT is improving slowly overall, but it is clearly lagging behind the leading countries of the world and all the rich and stable countries of the region and is in some cases regressing. Even where growth is observed, the growth rate is so slow and the growth process is so steep that it seems as if the country has no intention of competing and excelling in regional and international competition. In addition, even the current technological infrastructure has not been optimally used to network the government and society and improve the quality of governance. The unfavorable trend of indicators related to human capital is also alarming and may challenge one of the important aspects of the country's informational development in the near future.
Conclusion
Reliable statistics and documents indicate that informational development in today's world is related to economic growth, productivity growth, poverty and inequality reduction, job creation, overcoming climate change and environmental degradation, and even administrative and political efficiency and the quality of governance. The capacity to produce wealth has never been as dependent on the intensity of informationalism as it is in our time, but informational development is not only the main driver of economic development, but it has also found a close relationship with human development. The fundamental and contextual role of ICTs for the emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution indicates that this situation will intensify in the future.
Therefore, if Iran wants to have a central position in the structure of power and wealth of the world today and in the future, it is bound to make major decisions and strategic choices to rethink its approach to emerging information and communication technologies on the one hand and to make urgent efforts to facilitate the country's macro-environment of informational development on the other. The future of the country's development in the current development paradigm depends to a large extent on the level of acceptance and support for the informational mode of development and the level of provision of platforms for its leapfrog growth. In Iran, however, the prerequisite for any policy and strategy in this area will be a change in the dominant intellectual framework and approach to new ICTs.
 

Abstract This article focusing on intelligence role in the process of economic development, tries to answer this question: what are the roles of intelligence agencies in promoting process of economic development? Authors argue that intelligence agencies by production of economic intelligence, securing national economic intelligence and monitoring the development process, make the economic competition capability, assure the continuity of that capability and guarantee the economic security. Authors also claim that intelligence has cognitive, monitoring and executive role in economic development.    

Abstract

The paper studies the Fifth Bill of Development inIranin terms of its effects on business environment in the country. Based on the general terms of the plan, promotion of the business environment is the main strategy for realization of the economic growth, social security and better life standards of the Iranian nation. Also, it will serve as an important factor in empowerment of the people against poverty, unemployment and inflation. Given the need to promote the business environment, some of the defects of the plane are explained in this paper.