Sociological Analysis of the Security Role of Political Elite (power) in Promoting National Security of Islamic Republic of Iran

Since long time ago the elite, in particular the political elite, have played an important role in the various aspects of developments of societies, especially security issue. Historic experiences have indicated that the rise and elevation and/or collapse of any country, to a great extent, depends on the role of the political elite, and their reflection plays a determining and effective role in implementation of political and social programs on one side, and manner of fulfillment of the aspirations of the public, on the other. National security provision is among the priorities of the Islamic system in national and regional policymaking. Chief among indexes of national security provision are: political independence, preservation of territorial integrity, political stability, social cohesion and economic welfare. The main question to be answered in the present study is pertaining to the security role of the political elite (power) in promoting national security of Islamic Republic of Iran. The theoretical framework taken into consideration in the present study is the security view points of the Copenhagen school, particularly Barry Buzan regarding national security: its cultural, social, economic, political, security, environmental aspects. The method used in this research is a combination of consecutive qualitative and quantitative methods. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by factor analysis and the reliability of question was checked and confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (0.973). The statistical population of this study includes officials, professors and experts active in national security areas, and the relevant sample has been selected purposefully. N= 81 including professors, officials and experts involved in the areas of national security who have sufficient information on this very research and are willing to cooperate and fill in the relevant questionnaire. The research findings indicate that there is significant difference between the status quo of the elite performance and the expectations of the community (desirable conditions). In other words, the community elites, due to various reasons, have not had a proper and desirable performance.