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.
