Sociology
Ali Ayar; Moosa Anbari
Abstract
Using the critical ethnography method, this research examines the effect of developmental interventions on the social space and economic activity of local communities in the Middle Zagros site (Ilam and Lorestan provinces). The findings indicate that the development has put the pre-intervention ...
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Using the critical ethnography method, this research examines the effect of developmental interventions on the social space and economic activity of local communities in the Middle Zagros site (Ilam and Lorestan provinces). The findings indicate that the development has put the pre-intervention life world, which was dominated by social issues, under the attack of economic issues. In the process of developmental intervention, the cultural capacities and traditions that connect and help local economic activities have been neglected. Instead, official and capital-oriented government programs have been expanded in objective and subjective dimensions. The result of the weakening of popular traditions is the rise of new pseudo-technocratic groups that consider local cultural values such as hard work, contentment, cooperation, and generosity as symbols of backwardness. In fact, native activists, as new self-directed productive managers, have become those who are caught in the trap of donations, loans, and hires to market their labor force and provide their livelihood. In order to show this reduction, the metaphor of the walnut tree as a symbol of a hardworking, connected, and diligent nature-oriented society, and the eucalyptus tree as a symbol of borrowed intervention, a consuming, pretentious, and discrete society have been used. With the deterioration of the local community, cooperative economic actions, hard work, and contentment have been limited, and consumer-oriented, discrete, and completely profitable economic competitions have taken their place.
Keywords: Critical Ethnography, Intervention, Developers, Local Community, Economic Action, Social Existence.
Introduction
Developmental interventions have been associated with positive achievements and improvement of some welfare and social indicators. However, in cases where these interventions have been implemented disproportionately with the social existence, they have also had a negative side. Local communities in Iran have experienced various interventions and authoritarian changes in the name of development since the beginning of the Pahlavi period. This research is an attempt to explain how, with developmental interventions, the whole existence in collectivist and ethical communities was reduced to an economic matter, and altruistic, cooperative, tolerant, altruistic, and hospitable people turned into relatively selfish and profit-seeking people. How, in a paradoxical situation, despite the dominance of the economy, need and poverty have spread?
Conceptual Framework
In order to create theoretical sensitivity in understanding and interpreting developmental interventions, the following theoretical concepts have been used. According to Durkheim, society is an independent reality that moves and evolves according to the coordinates of its existence, which cannot be changed from the outside or by force. Therefore, the forced division of labor is considered to be the cause of social disorder. By presenting an understanding of society as a system, Nolan and Lenski provide us with the insight that interventions by changing some components of a system provide the context for changing other components. Habermas' system- life-word conceptual system relies on the proposition that with the separation between the life-world and the system, the life-world is colonized by the system.
Materials and Methods
The present research has used the multi-sited ethnography method by adopting a qualitative approach. Critical ethnography goes behind the scenes and disrupts neutral and certain-considered assumptions. To collect data, observation, in-depth interviews, group discussions, situational conversations, and site notes have been used. The analysis has been done by repeatedly reviewing different data, going back and forth to the site in order to saturate the theory and extract the main themes. The studied site is generally Middle Zagros, i.e., Lorestan and Ilam provinces, but six places, including two cities and four villages in Ilam and Lorestan provinces, have been selected. According to the multi-sited ethnographic approach, the researcher has explored one event, which is developmental interventions in several sites. To check the ability to confirm and transfer research or qualitative validity, on the one hand, organized themes with experts. On the other hand, propositions extracted from qualitative data have been shared with participants. Furthermore, the long-term presence of the researcher, multi-dimensionalization of data, rich description, and triangulation have been used for validation.
Findings
In this research, in order to understand the effect of developmental interventions in the local communities of Iran, a multi-site critical ethnography method in the Ilam and Lorestan provinces has been used. After analyzing the data, the authors were able to extract six comprehensive concepts to understand the effect of these interventions. These themes are: from accompanying the social matter to the dominance of the economic matter, from cultural capacities to cultural programs, the arrival of developmentalists, draining the social life-world, and the emergence of snobbism: from work as an identity to work as a disgrace, from the traditions of helping charity and being hired, and from the connected society to rival communities.
Conclusion
Although developmental interventions have had undeniable achievements for local communities, in many cases, due to the lack of fit with the environment, they have ultimately harmed the social entity because it has placed the society in which the social matter was dominant and its economic actions were managed and understood with altruistic and communal social logic in the onslaught of the economic matter. Developers with subjective and objective interventions, including symbolic violence centered on media and education, first introduced and humiliated the huge cultural reserves, institutions, and systems that help economic action as a hindrance and obstacle to development and then provided the ground for their destruction. Due to their interventions in different aspects of life in local communities, the opportunities for native economic activity were reduced day by day. As a result of these interventions, activists are experiencing forms of poverty by destroying the social context in the absence and collapse of supporting institutions and systems. The metaphor from walnut to eucalyptus is employed to show the change of direction from an industrious, interconnected, and belonging society to one's fellows and the environment to a discrete, consuming, and indifferent society to one's fellows and the environment.
Acknowledgments
This article is extracted from the corresponding author's postdoctoral research project. Therefore, the authors consider it their duty to acknowledge and thank the honorable heads and respected staff of the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) and the Institute of Social Studies and Research of the University of Tehran, as well as all the participants in the research.
Pegah Roshanshomal; Hasan Saraie; Ardeshir Entezari; Mahmoud Moshfegh
Abstract
In recent years, many family concepts have undergone semantic changes. Since the child is the main focus of the family, parents and women's understanding of this concept will determine many decisions in the field of fertility. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the "meaning of a child" and examine ...
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In recent years, many family concepts have undergone semantic changes. Since the child is the main focus of the family, parents and women's understanding of this concept will determine many decisions in the field of fertility. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the "meaning of a child" and examine women's understanding of this concept. This research describes the actor's understanding of the meaning of a child with a qualitative approach. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with twenty married women with children and without children in Tehran by purposive sampling and analyzed by using Smith's six-step technique. The main theme of the research showed that a child is a dynamic and influential concept. In the emotional view, the themes of "good feeling," "filling the scene of life," and "hardness and sweetness" and in the supportive view, the themes of "generational support," "old age support," and "spiritual support" emerged from the findings. A child is a double-edged sword, which means that it is both an obstacle to growth and a factor for success and growth. Growth and development in the personal and marital sphere is one of the most important meanings of a child. A child is a container for filling emotions, which contributes to the stability and continuity of marriage by injecting good feelings. The findings of this study were able to present a clear picture of the meaning of a child.Keywords: Qualitative Method, Theme Analysis, Meaning, Child, Women, Tehran. IntroductionAs a result of the transition of the family after the Industrial Revolution, the form of families changed from extended to nuclear, and after that, choosing a spouse changed from an unconscious and forced state to a conscious and selective action. Accordingly, the age of marriage and after that the age of having children increased, and the family became more damaged in terms of continuity. Behind all these changes, what is important is the change of the most important function of the family, i.e. reproduction of the generation. In the necessity and importance of the issue, it is enough to pay attention to the age pyramid of the population, which is moving towards old age. What has happened in the field of reproductive behavior and leads the population towards old age is the concern of many thinkers. Therefore, focusing on the child and its meaning, in the first step, is much more important and necessary than establishing positive laws. The changes that have occurred in the field of family and fertility behavior indicate that deeper and more radical changes have occurred in the mind, i.e. the bed of meaning formation, the result of which was determined in practice.Research Question(s)What is the understanding of "child" by women in Tehran?What does a child mean from the point of view of married women?What meaning do the activists attribute to the child?What is the variety of the mental meaning of the activists of the child?Literature ReviewKarimi and Samani's findings showed that Iran has been a child-loving society and infertile people or people who do not have children for any reason are under severe pressure from the society. This causes many newlyweds to try to "be like everyone else" in order to gain social approval (Karimi 2016: 111). The results of Farahani and Kayani's research showed that the meaning of a child has changed over time. The view of today's women has changed compared to the women of previous generations. The change of meaning with the passage of time does not mean a change in the value of the child, because perhaps with the passage of time, not only the value of the child has not decreased, but a rational, perfectionist, and measured look for the decision on the time of childbearing and its number, is indicative of the value and quality of the child. So people tend to prepare the conditions in such a way that they can raise a child with better quality (Farahani 2015: 99). The findings of Hashminiya's research showed that economic components, parents' lost opportunity costs, family income, and employment status are influential in the attitude towards the child and shaping its meaning (Hasheminia 2017: 61).Kagi's research results indicate three different types of credits for children; 1. The economic value and benefit that requires the material participation of children in the family. (In childhood as a labor force and in adolescence and youth as a provider of old age security) 2. Psychological values, including happiness, pride, fun, love, hope, and companionship 3. Social and traditional values referring to the social acceptance of parents (Kagitcibasi: 2015: 374). Deir realized that happiness and personal well-being are among the meanings that parents attach to their children. Children are necessary to maintain the security of the marriage bond and create social security for parents in their old age and to preserve the lineage and name (Dyer 2007: 73). The findings of Rani and Babu's research indicated that economic, social, demographic and psychological factors are mixed with the explanation of the concept of child. In developing countries like India, economic drivers influence fertility behavior. The economic value of children includes their participation in work and creating a sense of security for parents in their old age. If children can be useful to their parents in these two areas, then having many children seems completely rational (Rani 2003).Materials and MethodsThis research, with a qualitative approach, has reconsidered the awareness of the meaning of child among married women with and without children. In choosing the questions to start the interview, along with exploratory interviews, we benefited from the meaning-oriented theories in the sociology of knowledge school, and from the child-oriented theories in the field of demography. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews with 25 married women (with children and without children) in the age range of 30 to 50 years old in Tehran, with targeted sampling and with maximum diversity, and using thematic content analysis (TA), analysis and the final report was prepared.ResultsThe meaning of a child from women's points of view is the result of the interaction of cultural and social contexts in which a person is located at a certain point in time. The meaning of a child from women's points of view is the result of many factors and events. What is considered as meaning is the result of gathering a set of external and internal factors that the actor encounters throughout his life. Considering the mentioned fact and the analysis of available data, the main theme of this research is that: "A child is a conceptual combination of emotional, intellectual, individual and collective fluid elements. This cultural entity gives meaning to a mother's life and plays a significant role in the construction of personal, sexual, and adult identity and the development of activist rationality.ConclusionThere are benefits and losses in every choice made by an active community activist, and no choice is without cost. The fertility behavior of the studied women (having or not having a child) is a kind of selective and conscious action along with rationality, which is formed in the context of child perception. How women see a child in society and what position and meaning they attach to it is the turning point that makes them choose to have or not have a child. In choosing not to have children, the activist experiences both personal growth and a degree of deprivation. On the other hand, having a child can be both a factor of destruction and a factor of growth.
Sociology
Hamid Sarshar; Javad Kashi; Ali Janadleh
Abstract
The present article aims to trace the understanding of Iran's collective identity in historical reference to the rationality of schools. The theoretical guide of the research is derived from the conceptual apparatus of Michel Foucault, and the methodological logic of the research is through the ...
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The present article aims to trace the understanding of Iran's collective identity in historical reference to the rationality of schools. The theoretical guide of the research is derived from the conceptual apparatus of Michel Foucault, and the methodological logic of the research is through the genealogical approach and Foucauldian discourse analysis. The findings of the study indicate that "historical events" and "multiple developments" during the "confrontation" at the beginning of the confrontation with the civilization of the West made Iran susceptible to multiple situations. Modern education, on the one hand, arose such a desire from within the society that here education is mainly focused on progress in the socio-economic fields and does not have a relation with the collective identity. On the other hand, the structural encounter with the Western world, the mainly military necessity of the government, and the health crisis led to the understanding and "technical rationality" of knowledge. The rationality that later at the end of the century, with the rebellion of the "progressive discourse" from its initial principles and the problematization of collective identity, put modern education at the service of "the impossibility of open collective identity."IntroductionA redefinition of society as “a land and political territory in the modern rational and center-oriented form” has brought about a new stage for human collective settlements. Having had a theory/idea whereby a society is perceived as a state-nation concept as required by modern historical rationality, the problem of collective identity has been raised. Now, with the break of boundaries of “time-space” and the possibility for “a direct action towards the place”, once again our perception of “society” is about to be historically broken. However, the question of the “collective identity of Iran” still remains as one of the serious issues. The simultaneous intermingling of good and evil in modern political rationality has been the source of many misunderstandings and sufferings by confining our understanding of our identity in the form of geographical-political boundaries. But, understanding the collective identity beyond good and evil in history requires a transition from a moral point of view and a focus on historical circumstances.Literature ReviewStudies of collective identity in Iran have mainly focused on the issue of whether Iranian collective identity is a new phenomenon or a late phenomenon. In fact, the main controversy is whether collective identity is "discovered" or "constructed" in the contemporary world. Based on this, the three dominant approaches in the study of Iran's collective identity have been the "nationalistic" narrative, the "modern" narrative, and the "historical" narrative. The nationalist narrative considers Iran's collective identity as a pre-modern phenomenon. The modern narrative considers collective identity as a phenomenon related to the modern world and the formation of state-nations. The historical narrative considers collective identity as a pre-modern phenomenon that has changed over time and has emerged in the modern world in the form of national identity. Dominated by modern rationality, socio-historical studies on Iran which have assumed the collective identity as a sacred affair of fact within a state-nation framework, have been searching for the reasons for collective identity formation, often from a rationalistic and subject-oriented standpoint; so, the question on how such a phenomenon is realized in modern institutions which function as an area where the relations between dominant forces and rationality play the most essential role in organizing modern societies, seems to be the missing part of such socio-historical studies.Research ObjectivesThis research aims to examine the collective identity of contemporary Iran with reference to history in educational practices. This article intends to map the current history of Iran's collective identity with a genealogical approach, in order to record the evolution and heterogeneity of the collective identity outside of a uniform finality by refusing to look for origins. In analyzing the collective identity in the discursive and institutional fabric of contemporary Iranian history, our focus in this research is on the institution of education and educational practices.Theoretical FoundationsThis research is theoretically placed in the postmodern epistemological paradigm, and specifically, the theoretical guide of the research is derived from the conceptual apparatus of Michel Foucault. The author has aimed to trace back the contemporary collective identity of Iran by making historical references to scholastic rationality and educational acts within Foucault’s genealogy, conceptual framework, and logic. From the perspective of Foucault's genealogical approach, the possibilities and impossibilities of social phenomena and their nature can be deciphered in the knowledge-power system.Materials and MethodsThis research has been done using genealogical methodological logic and Foucauldian discourse analysis. Genealogy does not provide a precise methodological logic, but rather an insight to understand the phenomena. An insight that explores the logic of social order, social developments, and the actions of social agents in relation to power-knowledge. An exploration that looks for traces of today's events in the past. Genealogy goes back to history to investigate and understand phenomena, and in this regard, its main emphasis is on dominant rationalities and the formation of power relations.ResultsThe findings of the research indicate that "historical events" and "multiple developments" during the "confrontation" at the beginning of the confrontation with the civilization of the West made Iran susceptible to multiple situations. Modern education, on the one hand, arose such a desire from within the society that here education is mainly focused on progress in the socio-economic fields and does not have a relation with the collective identity. On the other hand, the structural encounter with the Western world, the mainly military necessity of the government, and the health crisis led to the understanding and "technical rationality" of knowledge. The rationality that later at the end of the century, with the rebellion of the "progressive discourse" from its initial principles and the problematization of collective identity, put modern education at the service of "the impossibility of open collective identity."
Sociology
Ardeshir Bahrami; Parvaneh Danesh; Zahra Mohammadi
Abstract
Varamin City has faced an increasing growth in suicide attempts nowadays. The purpose of this research is to study the bases for committing suicide in this city. The approach of this research was qualitative, and the data-based strategy was used to code and analyze the data. The study participants ...
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Varamin City has faced an increasing growth in suicide attempts nowadays. The purpose of this research is to study the bases for committing suicide in this city. The approach of this research was qualitative, and the data-based strategy was used to code and analyze the data. The study participants were all young people from Varamin City who were referred to counseling and welfare centers because of a suicide attempt. Sampling was done in a purposeful and theoretical manner and theoretical saturation was achieved after an in-depth individual interview with seventeen people. The validity of the data was also obtained through review by experts and participants, and citations. The findings indicate that the central phenomenon of attempted suicide among young people under study is reproductive inequality. Causal conditions are disorganization of family boundaries, fear of subjectivity and instrumental view, skeptical self-concept, regressive marriage, and obstruction in self-perpetuation (meaningful agency). The bases also showed themselves in the form of categories such as limited charity, unstable mosaic texture, barren kinship/family chains, emotional poverty, and limited environmental awareness. The results show that in order to reduce suicide among young people, it is necessary to organize their action spaces so that they recognize themselves as agents and identity effectors and resist adverse conditions.
Introduction
Varamin City has faced an increasing growth in suicide attempts. The present study was conducted with the purpose of studying the contexts of suicide in this city. The distribution of suicide rate in Tehran province shows an increase in the suicide rate in the southeast of Tehran. According to the report of the Social Emergency Center of Iran's Welfare Organization (2021), the suicide rate in Varamin City ranks second among the eastern cities of the country after Pishva with 5.8 percent and 5.1 percent (the Social Emergency Center of Iran's Welfare Organization, 1400). Furthermore, in the year 2021, in order of priority, Tehran (1044 cases), Varamin (188 cases), Shemiranat (162 cases), Shahryar (160 cases), Islamshahr (145 cases), Shahr Ray (145 cases) attempted suicide that they have received specialized services from welfare centers. As can be seen, after Tehran, Varamin ranks second in Tehran province with 188 suicide attempts. In addition, in terms of suicidal thoughts in the years 2017 to 2020, after Pakdasht City, Varamin City ranks second among the cities of Tehran province with 57 cases of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
Literature Review
Parvin et al. (2018) investigated "Intentional Suicide: Contexts and Consequences" among young people of Pakdasht. The findings show that the social contexts that caused suicide can be investigated in two dimensions, macro and interpersonal. In the macro dimension, these fields are "weakness in temporal integration, generational poverty, and social backwardness." At the interpersonal level, social contexts include "group tensions, unfulfilled sexual desire, unstable family boundaries, and immature relationships." Delam et al. (2019), in a study titled, "Suicide Attempt by Teenagers: A Qualitative Study," showed that the breakdown of emotional relationships, conflict with family, the collapse of family structure, psychological problems, and the use of ineffective coping strategies are causes of suicide in teenagers. Kouchakian and Kaldi (2020) in "Suicide; A Response to the Elimination Cycle” showed that arbitrary behaviors, forbidden behaviors, valuing romantic feelings and a transcendental attitude towards marriage at the individual level, conflicting power hierarchies, lack of discussion and dialogue and participation, conditional support from parents, and limited interactions and lack of commitment are the main causes of suicide in Tehran. Vanberg et al. (2021) in a study titled, "Suicide Attempts and Suicide of Young Women in Turkey," showed that social and economic conditions such as job, family status, rejection, poverty, long-term physical diseases, and also family conflicts in the form of family violence and betrayal lead to suicide among women. Meng (2020) in "Rebellion and Revenge: The Meaning of Female Suicide in Rural China" showed that suicide in China has a different meaning for women of lower status in the family. Suicide as an act of revenge is understood. Suicide for women is a protest against the existing social and economic pressures that have rejected them morally. Keely et al. (2022) have studied the role of youth's perception of social support in explaining suicidal behavior. The results showed that the relationship between the perception of low school support and suicidal thoughts is stronger in those who do not have parental support.
Materials and Methods
The approach of the current research was qualitative and the data-based strategy was used to code and analyze the data. The study participants were all young people who tried to commit suicide in Varamin City and were then referred to counseling and welfare centers. Sampling was done in a purposeful and theoretical manner, and theoretical saturation was achieved after an in-depth individual interview with seventeen people. The validity of the data was obtained through review by experts, review by participants, and citation.
Results
The findings show that reproductive inequality is the central phenomenon of attempted suicide among young people under study. Causal conditions are "disorganization of family boundaries, fear of subjectivity and instrumental view, skeptical self-concept, regressive marriage, and obstruction in self-giving continuity (meaningful agency). The contexts also showed themselves in the form of categories such as "limited good, unstable mosaic texture, kinship/unproductive family chains, emotional poverty, and limited environmental awareness."
Conclusion
In this research, we wanted to study the bases for suicide attempts among the youth of Varamin City. Therefore, reproductive inequality was identified as the central category of suicide attempts. Causal conditions consist of six categories: "disorganization of family boundaries, fear of subjectivity and instrumental view, skeptical self-concept, regressive marriage, and obstruction in self-continuity (meaningful agency). The bases or contexts also showed themselves in the form of categories such as "limited charity, unstable mosaic texture, barren kinship/family chains, emotional poverty, and limited environmental awareness."
Keywords: Suicide, Fear of Subjectivity and Failure, Unstable Mosaic Texture, Limited Charity, Regressive Marriage.
Sociology
Alireza Bizaban; Ali Imani
Abstract
The main issue of this article is national security. The question of this article is, which societies and why do they experience less potential and actual internal and external threats to national security, while some societies are constantly exposed to and experiencing dangerous threats? What ...
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The main issue of this article is national security. The question of this article is, which societies and why do they experience less potential and actual internal and external threats to national security, while some societies are constantly exposed to and experiencing dangerous threats? What is the situation of Iran in terms of the power of the state and the nation and the dangerous threats to national security? In order to find a theoretical solution to the problem, with the help of nation-state building theories, the dimensions of the power of the state and the nation were extracted, and then, using the theory of historical institutionalism, the theoretical analysis of the relationship between the nation-state and national security was carried out. Furthermore, in order to find an empirical solution to the problem, the quantitative methodology and the secondary analysis technique were used at the macro level, and data related to the research variables for 130 countries were collected from various international sources and analyzed for the period of 2005 to 2022. The findings from the quantitative comparative analysis showed that the capacity of the state and the nation and the balanced construction of their power, as well as the balance of power between the state and nation, which provides the basis for the compatibility and synergy of their power, has a reducing effect on potential and actual internal and external threats and has an increasing effect on national security.
Introduction
Today, all societies are faced with the problem of how to survive in the face of uncertainty, a never-ending set of new challenges, dilemmas, and crises, and random, unpredictable, and risky changes in the surrounding world and within themselves [the sources and roots of these challenges and changes are different; changes in relative prices, changes in demographic components, macroeconomic crises, ethnic conflict, civil wars, technological change, and security conflicts with other governments, etc.] and they should be resolved, controlled, and managed. But despite the increasing density, diversity, and complexity of threats, and the inevitable face of all societies with these threats, they do not have the same performance against these threats and only some societies are able to adapt to these random and unpredictable changes, defend their institutions, rules, values, and identity and modulate and manage threats and therefore have less vulnerability and more resilience. Therefore, the question is raised: which societies and why do they experience less potential and actual internal and external dangerous threats to national security and have more national security, while some societies are continuously exposed to experiencing dangerous threats?
Literature Review
Most of the studies carried out in explaining the factors and conditions affecting the Genesis and continuation of national security in Iran can be divided into three categories based on their focus and emphasis: government-oriented studies, studies that are subject to structural deliverism (external structures of society), and cognitive reductionism. The purpose of this article is to critically confront these studies and try to achieve a deep understanding of the concept of national security and the causal conditions of its Genesis and continuity, emphasizing the mutual relationship between the state and the nation, the mutual relationship between the internal and external structures of society.
Materials and Methods
This research has been done using the quantitative methodology and secondary analysis technique at the macro level. The unit of analysis in this research is the country or the entire social system, in other words, the nation-state. The sample to be studied is the nations that have a population of one million people and have the conditions to establish a nation-state (official and recognized nation-states). Data related to various factors in the recent 17-year period (2005 to 2020) were collected for 130 countries and then averaged from them, and using SPSS software, the correlation between the factors was investigated first, and then using linear regression. Multiple, the extent of influence of the structure and capacity of the government and nation on national security threats have been investigated.
Results
The findings from the analysis of the relationships between the research variables showed that the capacity of the state and the nation and the balanced construction of their power, as well as the balance of power between the government and the nation, which provides the basis for the compatibility and synergy of their power, have a reducing effect on potential and actual domestic and foreign threats, and have an increasing effect on national security.
The findings of the case study of Iran show that the state has little financial, bureaucratic, and political capacities and is also qualified to build a deeply unbalanced power. In fact, the state is more than a bureaucratic apparatus with high executive power and inclusive and maximal character, it is a state with a military-security and minimal character (due to the weakness of political power). It is for mobilizing and organizing oneself and participating to influence the construction of the state, and despite the [small and unstable] economic growth during the past decades, it is deeply unequal, multi-divided (center-periphery gap, class gap, etc.), and therefore has an unbalanced structure. Thirdly, the power of the government and the nation is unbalanced (excess power of the government over the nation), and therefore their relationship is asymmetrical and as a result, they are in a state of "gap" and inequality. In such a situation, i.e. "powerful weakness inside", not only is it not possible to take advantage of the technical and technological, scientific, commercial, and economic opportunities of the international system to restore the power inside, but also in the absence of dependence and mutual benefits with other societies, getting caught in the pitfall of the asymmetric and unequal structure of the world system, and being exposed to its increasing pressures and threats is inevitable.
Conclusion
Without a strong nation-state with a balanced power structure, the institutions, rules, vital values, and national interests of the societies will be exposed to dangerous threats. But the stability of the power of the state and the nation depends on the stability of their "equilibrium" and "balance of power," and when the balance of power between them is upset (the state dominates the nation or the nation dominates the state), their relationship is asymmetrical, and their power will be "asymmetric" and "synonymous" and not "synergistic," which undoubtedly has a reducing effect on both their power and national security. A comparison of the synergy of power and the gap between the state and the nation in different regions of the world shows that societies where the government and its nations do not have equal powers experience greater disparity, in contrast to societies where the state and the nation have equal powers aligned, they are constantly exposed to [experience] dangerous internal and external threats to national security.
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