Imam Khomeini's Discourse on National Security and Foreign Policy

The present paper focuses on Imam Khomeini’s discourse on the national security and foreign policy. After discussing the theory of discourse and discourse analysis, it briefly reviews the viewpoints of six early and contemporary Muslim thinkers on the national security and foreign policy. Then it provides in-depth insight on the viewpoints of Imam Khomeini in this regard. The general scheme of Imam Khomeini’s concepts or order of discourse has been drawn up and organized on the basis of the discourse analysis theory. The aforesaid order of discourse explains important aspects of the political theory of Imam Khomeini. This paper shows that configuration of the order of Imam Khomeini’s discourse on the aforesaid subject is based on “Islamic awakening” as the central signifier and is connected to two important elements of “deterrence and task-based defense” and “purposive and dignified interaction with the world” through “emphasis on dignity.”