A Model of Analyzing Domestic Security: Explaining Factors Affecting Domestic Security at the Macro-level

Domestic security is a level of national security which is unfortunately less discussed in security literature. Accordingly, this paper tries to answer the following questions, adopting the political sociological approach, and relying on library studies. What are factors which affect the domestic security? What should political systems do in order to strengthen their political stability and decrease threats against their domestic security? Regarding the discourse of security, this paper introduces domestic security in the context of a political system which seeks to enhance peace and satisfaction among its citizens; therefore, it considers domestic security as the result of reciprocal interaction between society and political system. Accordingly, ‘political legitimacy’ is a key word in explaining the factors affecting the domestic security. The current paper tries to explain the status and role of ‘political legitimacy’, have a macro-level analysis of its dimensions, and explicate other factors affecting the domestic security. In this level of analysis, the concept of ‘political legitimacy’ possess two theoretical (subjective) and practical (objective) dimensions. The theoretical dimension presents the system’s ability-political ideology and mechanisms of recognizing the society-to produce and reproduce social values and beliefs which are aligned with the political values and beliefs. Its practical dimension discusses the practical results of the political system and its benefits to people. The practical dimension studies two factors of “efficiency” and “accountability” in strengthening the legitimacy of political system, and consequently heightening security inside the country. Significantly, apart from discussing the factors affecting the domestic security, the paper explains the security challenges of each factor in domestic security.