MILITARY MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY

MILITARY MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY

Identifying the Political Drivers and Influencing Factors of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Defense Diplomacy

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Massoud Mossadegh 1
Hossein Kohsarian 2
aliakbar shadalizadeh 3
mohammad tayer 4
1 Department of Geography, Command University and Aja Headquarters, Tehran, Iran
2 Ph.D. student, Defense Management, Command University and Aja Headquarters
3 Master's student in Geopolitics, Command University and Aja Headquarters, Tehran, Iran,
4 Faculty of the AJA Headquarters Command University
10.22034/iamu.2025.2066848.3206
Abstract
In today's complex world, a deep understanding of the factors influencing the defense diplomacy of nations, especially a country with a strategic position like Iran in the Middle East, is crucial. The current research aims to explain and identify the military drivers and effective factors in the defense diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This applied research, with a descriptive-exploratory and mixed-methods approach, utilized a targeted statistical population and a census sampling method. Initially, through a comprehensive literature review and preliminary expert opinions from the defense and foreign policy fields, 68 potential drivers influencing defense diplomacy were identified. In the next stage, based on expert consensus and strategic importance, this number was reduced to 24 key drivers. Subsequently, using an interaction matrix, the mutual influence and susceptibility of these 24 drivers were precisely evaluated by experts. The results indicate that Iran's defense diplomacy is influenced by complex and numerous factors. Among these, nuclear capability, military arms exports, geopolitical competition, and joint military exercises with other countries were identified as the most important influential factors. These findings suggest that the defense diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to military considerations, is significantly affected by political and international economic developments. These factors mutually influence each other, increasing the complexity of defense diplomacy.
Keywords
Identification of the propellant
military propellants
defense diplomacy
Islamic Republic of Iran
Subjects
·     B. S. Sachar, (2004). Military Diplomacy Through Arms Transfers: A Case Study of China, Strategic analysis, pp290-310.
·     Banerjee, K. & Mackey, J. (2020). Communities of Practice, Influence Management, and Great Power Status: Military Observers in the Russo-Japanese War. European Journal of International Security, 5(3), PP274-293.
·     Charillon, F. Balzacq, T. & Ramel, F. (2020). Defense diplomacy. In Global diplomacy (pp. 267–278). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28786-3_19
·     Freedman, D. Z. & Townsend, P. K. (1991). Generalized Freedman-Townsend model. Physics Reports, 209(3-4), 129–340.
·     Ghaffari-Dolama, M. & Rieger, J. D. (2023). Investigating the effects of road user mobility and priority criteria for highway-railway intersections for grade separation. Transportation Reviews, 43(1), 131-153
·     Goran Svestek(2012). The Link Between Public Diplomacy and Military Diplomacy in Foreign and Defense Policy, Journal of Strategic Analysis, Pp79-86.
·     Khadafi, B. R. Y. Salahuddin, S. & Yumitro, G. (2023). The art of defense diplomacy: How new forms of diplomacy are shaping international relations. Jurnal Hubungan Internasional, 9(1),
·     onald Stoker(2007), The history and evolution of foreign military advice and assistance, 1815-2007,
·     Oyewole, S. & Duyile, A. (2021). The Enduring Correlation of Maritime Power: Reflections on Defense, Security, and Anticipating Maritime Frontier Power. Australia: Brazilian Journal of Strategy and International Relations, 10(20), PP, 118-133.
·     Pazera, J. Mlodawska, M. Kukolska, K. & Mlodawski, J. (2023). Assessment of psychomotor development in full-term infants at 12 months of age using the Munich Functional Development Diagnosis depending on the feeding method: a cross-sectional study. Pediatric Reports, 15(2), 381-389
·     Singh, B. & Tan, S. S. (2011). From “boots” to “brogues”: The rise of defence diplomacy in Southeast Asia. RSIS Monograph Series, (21), 1–92. S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore.