Measurement and Ranking of the Dimensions of Sustainable Security in the New Security Discourse Using Structural Equation Modeling

Articles in Press

Document Type : مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

Authors

mahdi badakhshan ¹

seyyed hadi zarghani ²

mostafa amirfakhriyan ³

¹ *

² Professor of Political Geography, Department of Geography, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Geography Faculty of Literature and Humanities Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

https://doi.org/10.22067/pg.2026.97804.1437

Abstract

The developments in the international system after the Cold War, including the changing nature of threats, the expansion of security actors, the advancement of communication technologies, and the enhancement of the role of humans and society in security equations, have led to a transition from the traditional discourse to the new security discourse. In this framework, the concept of "sustainable security" has been proposed as a comprehensive and multidimensional approach that analyzes security beyond the military dimension and in conjunction with social, cultural-ethical, economic, political-institutional, geographical, and defense dimensions. Given the different roles and effects of these dimensions, their empirical measurement and systematic ranking are essential for security policymaking. The present study aims to rank the six dimensions of sustainable security within the framework of the new security discourse. This study is analytical-survey in terms of its fundamental purpose and method. The statistical population includes professors, researchers, and managers of security agencies, and the data were collected through a questionnaire. For data analysis, structural equation model with partial least squares approach (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS was used and for ranking, Friedman test in SPSS was used.
The findings show that all six dimensions of sustainable security have a positive and significant impact on its realization, and the cultural-ethical and then social dimensions have the greatest impact. The ranking results indicate the priority of defense and geography in terms of importance and role. From the perspective of temporal precedence, these two dimensions are also prerequisites for the realization of sustainable security. In general, sustainable security is the result of the interaction of hard and soft dimensions, and its realization requires balanced and phased attention to all dimensions.

Keywords

Sustainable Security

New Security Discourse

Ranking of Security Dimensions

Structural Equation Modeling

Subjects

• Political Geography

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