Futuristic Research on the Development Issues of the Southern Border Islands of the Country

Development issues in border areas, especially in maritime borders, have a very complex and nested nature, which is impossible to analyze and find their roots with traditional methods. The purpose of this article is to identify the future development issues of border islands in southern Iran.

In this article, using the causal layer analysis method, it has been tried to analyze and explain the most important issues of the underdevelopment of the southern islands of the country.

Based on the environmental survey method, the development issues of the islands in the south of the country were identified. Based on this, 20 key issues among all issues were refined and categorized. Based on this classification, the highest number of problems appeared at the system level (7 problems) and the levels of worldview and myth each covered five causes. At the litany level, three major problems emerged, including the low level of development and the lack of effective role of the border islands in the development of the country, each of which contains much smaller problems.

The findings indicate that the issues of the underdevelopment of the islands in the south of the country are rooted in the causes of the lower levels of metaphors and myths, among which the historical confrontation between Arabs and non-Ajams, as well as the neighboring Shia and Sunnis in this geographical area, have led to a security view of the islands, and for this reason many cooperation capacities with the Persian Gulf countries have been neglected or abandoned in general. In addition to these reasons, the key assumption of considering America as an eternal enemy has also led to the intensification of security approaches and the loss of some opportunities. Therefore, in providing a solution for the development of the islands, in addition to technical and operational solutions, there is a revision in the attitude towards Iran's southern neighbors and the current form of the relationship between Iran and the United States. As long as there is no serious reform in this view, even with large development investments, the huge development capacity of the islands will not reach its ultimate limit.