National Identity and Political Legitimacy in Contemporary Iran

In the analysis of security questions and challenges in multi-ethnic countries like Iran, ethnic inconsistency and national fragmentation are considered as the main causes of political insecurity and instability, and security strategies are designed and suggested accordingly. Criticizing this viewpoint, this research holds that ethnic diversity and national incoherence cannot be eliminated with a reductionist approach and while recognizing and respecting differentiation and discrepancies among the Iranian ethnicities, they should be integrated under a legitimate political system. What helps to consolidate and stabilize the political systems in Iran is not the negation of distinct ethnic identities but the emergence of legitimate political structure. In other words, if political systems acquire sufficient legitimacy in the society, ethnic diversity will not be able to interrupt their continuity and stabilization. In verifying this hypothesis, reference can be made to the effects of the Pahlavi regime’s legitimacy on the degree of national cohesion and indicated that how ethnic questions and their appearance are conditional on the legitimization or illegitimization of the political system rather than otherwise would be correct. In other words, the activation of ethnic conflicts and low level of national cohesion result from the low level of confidence in the political system and its legitimacy.