Securitization of Inland Waters and Its Impact on National Security of Iran

پژوهش ‎های جغرافیای سیاسی

Article 7, Volume 7, Issue 4 - Serial Number 28, November 2022, Pages 135-158   

Document Type: مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

DOI: 10.22067/pg.2022.74143.1120

Authors

Marjan Badiee Azandahi^{* 1}; Zahra pishgahifard²; Vahid Najafi Nakhjuanlu³

¹Assistant Professor of political geography Department, University of Tehran. Tehran. Iran

²Professor of Political Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

³Ph.D. student of Political Geography, Kish International Campus, University of Tehran.Tehran.Iran.

Abstract

Today, the new concept of national security includes multiple hard and soft internal and external components, compared to its classic concept. Each of these components of national geography are considered as the main constructive and stable factors of the national security of each country; which can provide stability and peace and vice versa they can turn to the instability and security challenges for a country. Water security is a function of the interdependence of different security areas within the national geography of a country, which is spread within a network of socio-economic and political forces at different spatial scales. This network includes natural security resources (water, energy, weather, food) and security of social groups (individual, society and nation). The purpose of this article is not only to find a solution for how to secure the internal waters of Iran; but also the effects of inland water securitization on Iran's national security have been noted. This research is descriptive-analytical in nature and in terms of library and documentary information collection method. This article employs a descriptive-analytical research approach and relies on library resources for gathering information. The findings show the intertwining of the external phenomena such as the temperature increasing of the earth during the last two decades, the change in the precipitation pattern, and the internal phenomena such as the weak management of water resources, the decrease in the amount of rainfall, the drop in the level of underground water and the illegal drilling of wells during four decades not only has caused critical situation, but also it has caused social protests in the provinces of the Zagros region, the central and the southwest region, in such a way that the water challenge in the country has caused challenges for national security of Iran.

Keywords

Geography of Iran; National Security; Water Security; Internal Waters; Hydropolitical Challenges

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