Abstract:
This study aims to explain the factors influencing the participation of rural border communities in the northwest of Iran in national defense, with a particular emphasis on the experiences of the Sacred Defense (Iran-Iraq War). The research employs a descriptive-analytical method with a quantitative and field-based approach. The statistical population includes households residing in 124 border villages across the provinces of West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, and Ardabil. Using a simple random sampling method and Cochran’s formula, 377 households were selected as the sample. Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed using Smart PLS software and structural equation modeling (SEM). The study examined geographical, economic-livelihood, managerial-political, and socio-cultural dimensions as influential factors. The results indicated that the geographical, economic-livelihood, and managerial-political dimensions had the strongest and most significant positive effects on rural communities' participation in national defense, whereas the socio-cultural dimension showed weaker and, in some cases, negative correlations. The geographical index, with the highest path coefficient, played a major role in sensitizing and motivating rural residents toward defensive participation. Additionally, the economic-livelihood index, due to its direct link with subsistence and economic security, emerged as a key motivational driver. Based on these findings, strengthening infrastructure and implementing supportive economic and managerial policies—alongside re-evaluating socio-cultural strategies—can foster sustainable participation in national defense. These results hold strategic value for policymakers and development planners in border regions and can contribute to enhancing community resilience and grassroots defense.
Machine summary:
Indicators used from psychological approaches to participation in national defense Row Indicators Theory Source 1 Sense of belonging, social trust, social connection, social support, human education and training, previous shared experiences, common goals Adler's perspective and perfectionism Alfred Adler 1 2 2 Environmental factors and conditions, social support, social communications, social cohesion and solidarity Henry Murray's perspective Henry Murray 3 3 Leadership roles, capacity enhancement, defense skills, education, establishing communication with progress McClelland's perspective and motivation McClelland 1 101 1 Alfred Adler 2 Henry Murray 3 McClelland others, cooperation and solidarity, motivation, providing educational programs, social support 4 Cohesion and cooperation, sense of belonging, trust, Maslow's motivation perspective Abraham Maslow 1 Social communications and interactions 2 5 Cooperation, solidarity, achievement motivation, social communications approach John Thibault social communications, commitment and dependence, social division of responsibilities, social acceptance Source: Constructed by the researcher based on library studies, 2025 The extensive participation of rural communities during the Sacred Defense era, including prominent examples such as the popular mobilization (Basij) in crisis conditions, is also analytically explainable from a theoretical perspective.
These results indicate that geographical, economic, and managerial and political dimensions play a primary and determining role in explaining participation in national defense, while the influence of social and cultural factors in this model is less than other dimensions and even faces a negative relationship, which may result from contextual complexities and the specific characteristics of the studied society (Table 7).
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