فصلنامه راهبرد دفاعی
پیاپی 24 (بهار 1388)

During the 20th century، the idea of planning within the organizations was developed، however، strategic planning has been considered only from 3 decades ago. While the military organizations are facing dynamic، changing and turbulent environments and the effect of strategic planning on these organizations are remarkable، strategic planning was even less considered within the military organizations. The paper aims to consider theories of strategic planning and its definition as well as its role and function within the organizations. Finally the paper introduces a model for strategic planning along with concrete steps for that strategic planning، and then considers possible obstacles and relevant mechanisms to overcome them within military organizations.

Defense policy is a part of macro policies of the countries in reaching political goals and in this way they should employ all available political، economic، cultural and military instruments. Defense policy is one of the requirements for acquiring national interests، tackling threats and achieving national security. In order to understand defense policy، one should identify its main elements. The main purpose of this paper is to illustrate defense policy in the 4th development plan and then to suggest some ideas for the 5th one. Therefore، after definition of defense policy، the influence of security environment on defense policy is studied in this paper. Then the elements of defense policy and the approaches of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this field are considered. Finally، the paper concludes that the defense policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is defensive and based on human resources.

A study of the elements of the 1404 Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran shows that the policy makers have paid attention to sustainable development and positive side of security. From the viewpoint of sustainable development، the coherence among the economic، social، cultural and environmental aspects of development is increasing at the national، regional and international levels. Therefore، the national development approaches should be holistic، inclusive، predictive and with a view to the external factors. So the Perspective plan has a multifaceted nature and the conditions for its realization are also the same and its final aim is to achieve sustainable development. In answering the question that what placement the concept of security has occupied in the above plan، the paper considers the concept، features، aspects and approaches of security and then with the introduction of the features and functions of the Perspective plan، it reviews the placement of this concept and the relevant approaches in the plan.

National power does have several aspects including، military، political and social. However، for many observers، the ultimate criterion for national power lies in its military aspect. And one of the important issues in the field of military power is to study and recognize its effective elements and also possibility of measuring the military power of other countries. All relevant problems and difficulties in this field are similar to those of national power measurement. Certainly one or two special variables (like number of the Army staff or number of personnel of the missile launchers of a country) can not be considered as proper criteria to evaluate military power of the countries، so does a unified variable which is not able to provide a useful evaluation about national power in general. This paper studies the fact that what elements and variable can be employed in evaluation of military power and how much they are useful in evaluation and measurement of military power of other countries.

The swift development of science and technology has influenced all military principles، procedures، policies and tactics. Therefore، attention towards development of science and technology is of a special significance. On the occasion of starting the 5th development plan along with appreciation of the short cut ways، a great leap forward in the field of defense should be planned. Given the approaches of the 5th development plan which are based on research and expertise، the main issues which are to be tackled in this paper are as follows: Policy making in the field of technology، Trade in research findings، Transfer، spreading، absorbing and developing indigenous technology، capacity building، Expansion of export and employment by use of technology. In this paper، all of these topics are applied in the military field. Finally، it is presumed in this paper that proper functioning in the above fields could lead to the improvement of science and employing it in the defense sector and in the whole country.

Defense policy as an indicator of defense power has a decisive role in leading the defense strategies and also it is steering possibilities and capacities towards a special direction. According to its principles، defense policy attempts to secure the country and strengthen its security. This degree of importance shows the necessity of defense policy. Of course، given the strategic level of defense policy، the relevant indicators to evaluate it are general too. In this paper، the necessity of evaluation of defense policy is discussed first، and then the focus will be on the concept and characteristics of defense policy as well as its principles، origins and indicators of evaluation of defense policy. Based on one of the findings of this paper، ignoring the evaluation of defense policy is misleading and changes priorities that finally can waste the resources. In fact، vitality of defense policy is subject to evaluation and reform of the past policies.