Document Type : Research/Original/Regular Article
Author
Associate Professor in Political Geography Ferdowsi University OF Mashhad
Abstract
This study employs a hybrid content analysis (qualitative and quantitative) to identify, classify, and evaluate the factors contributing to the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War. It compares the perspectives of Iranian, Iraqi, and Western researchers, including political officials, military commanders, and academics. Findings reveal that the war resulted from the interaction of 18 multilevel factors, encompassing territorial, geopolitical, ideological, security, psychological, and international dimensions. A comparative analysis highlights significant differences in priorities. Iranian perspectives emphasize Iraq's pursuit of "leadership over the region and the Arab world" and the "Iran-US conflict." Iraqi views focus on "Iran's structural weakness" and the "potential collapse or weakening of the revolutionary regime." Western scholars prioritize the "threat to the survival of Saddam and the Ba'ath Party" and the "ideological conflict between the regimes."However, factors such as "leadership of the region and the Arab world," "Iraq's geopolitical constraints," "the threat to the survival of Saddam and the Ba'ath Party," and "the ideological conflict between political systems" held the highest coefficient of influence across all three groups. The results conclude that the Iran-Iraq War was not the product of a single factor but a complex interplay of individual leader calculations, ideological contradictions, geopolitical rivalries, and international power considerations, underscoring the need for preventive diplomacy and proactive tension management to avoid similar conflicts.
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