Document Type : Research/Original/Regular Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor of Strategic Defense Sciences, Supreme National Defense University, Tehran, Iran
2 Ph.D. Candidate in Political Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
Abstract
Defense and security are two fundamental and intertwined components of national resilience, whose function at the macro-governance level is to ensure the internal and external security of the country. The absence of a comprehensive strategy in this field can render the Islamic Republic of Iran vulnerable to hybrid threats from hegemonic powers and terrorist movements. This study, adopting a descriptive–analytical approach and employing the method of “qualitative thematic analysis,” examines the components of the theory of comprehensive defense within the defensive-security doctrine of Imam Khamenei— a doctrine whose conceptual and practical foundations have been reinforced by the eight-year Sacred Defense experience. Data analysis (conducted using MAXQDA software) led to the identification of 125 key components, organized into nine main dimensions: political, social, cultural, economic, jurisprudential–legal, scientific, military, managerial, and psychological–spiritual. The findings indicate that this theory, relying simultaneously on the hardware and software capacities of national power, rests upon pillars such as strategic depth, culture-based authority, people-centered defense, and active resistance. As such, it can serve as an indigenous model for the design and updating of the defensive–security strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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