THE MILITARY AND POLITICS IN A THEOCRATIC STATE - IRAN AS CASE-STUDY

This article analyzes the internal as well as the external factors tha t have contributed to civilian control of the Iranian military in the last decade. The internal factors include the indoctrination of the mi litary with Islamic ideology and internal division among various segme nts of the armed forces. The external factors, however, encompass the emergence of premilitary groups the Iran-Iraq war and the Russian infl uence within the Iranian military. In conclusion, the article analyzes the effectiveness of these factors in the 1990s, pointing to the vari ous changes that are contributing to the erasion of these civilian con trol factors in recent years.