Investigating the Concept of Influence on the Political Thought of the Supreme Leader

The present study seeks to question the meaning, the what, the why and types of influence on the thought of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution and to analyze different aspects of the issue from his perspective. This research answers the following question: What does the influence mean in the supreme leader's thought?

The research method is qualitative and theme analysis in the form of network themes. The statistical population of this study includes all the speeches that were delivered by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from 1989 until 2018 about influence. The method of data gathering is a documentary and library studies with access to the primary sources, i.e., the Supreme Leader's lectures, documented on his site. The findings have been analyzed in the context of the theme analysis of their statements from 1989 until 2018.

Findings and results:

In general, influence includes various types of cultural influence, political influence, security influence and economic influence, and the influence of the enemy is pervasive. In terms of the enemy's influence method, the most important one is influence in the country, which exists in public and private systems, either individually or collectively, and in various types of influence. The purpose of enemy's influence can be summarized as a whole in the sense of destruction. The main motivation for enemy's influence is also the domination and continuation of the historical experience of arrogance and the exploitation of aliens. Strategies for countering enemy influence are, from the supreme leadership's point of view, raising awareness, consciousness, and understanding of the role of enemy influence in cultural, political, security, and economic dimensions.