NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Authors

  • Anna Gevorgyan Center for Civilization and Cultural Studies, Yerevan State University

Keywords:

Iran, national security, Islamic ideology, Iran-Armenia

Abstract

The national security strategy of a given country is based on its national interests and is defined by taking into consideration geographic, historical, political and economic aspects of its past and present. The same is true about the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, what distinguishes it from the national security strategies of other countries is the religious ideology that shapes the “nation” and as a result, its “national security.” Although IRI has never produced available documents of its National security strategy or Foreign policy doctrines, the history of the country’s political behavior and current steps by the Iranian political and military actors provide a possibility to draw the main characteristics of its national security assumptions. In other words, “Iran’s National security policy behavior must be understood in its discursive context.”1 The national security strategy of Islamic Republic of Iran consists of different, sometimes contradictory assumptions of self-identity. Some researchers believe that Iran’s current religio-political system constructs and maintains several identities. Namely:

  •   Iranian identity,
  •   Islamic identity,  
  •   Shia identity, and
  •   Revolutionary identity.2  

Author Biography

Anna Gevorgyan, Center for Civilization and Cultural Studies, Yerevan State University

Ms. Anna Gevorgyan is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Civilization and Cultural Studies at the Yerevan State University. Ms. Gevorgyan is also working at the National Defense Research University (NDRU) of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. She serves as the Head of the Scientific-Educational Center of the National Institute for Strategic Defense and Security Education of NDRU. She is also engaged in research projects of the Institute for National Strategic Studies of NDRU. Ms. Gevorgyan’s research interests include topics, such as Political Culture of Iran, Shia Islam and its influence on Iranian politics, the peculiarities of Iran’s domestic politics and gender issues, Iran’s foreign policy, etc. Ms. Gevorgyan is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Iranian Studies of Yerevan State University. Her PhD thesis explores the political mythologemes of Ayatollah Khomeini’s ideology.   

References

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Some researchers emphasize the “Persian” not “Iranian” identity, J .MatthewMclnnis, “The Future of Iran’s security Policy”, AEI, 2017, p.7, available at https://www.aei.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/The-Future-of-Irans-Security-Policy.pdf (10.07.2017)

The name of the country “Islamic Republic of Iran” by itself expresses markers of two identities; the origins of other two are anchored in the constitution of the country.

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ای-هسته-دانشمندان-ديدار-در-بيانات) 05.08.2017)

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In line with “death to Zionist Regime”

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Ibid.

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For secular Azerbaijan the influence of Iranian Shiism is perceived as a potential threat to the state.

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Published

2017-09-30

How to Cite

Gevorgyan, A. . (2017). NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. Analytical Bulletin, 2(11), 94–111. Retrieved from https://analytical-bulletin.cccs.am/index.php/ab/article/view/76