Assessing the Capacity of the I.R.I. Seventh Five-Year Plan of Progress in Consolidating Social Cohesion in the Post-12-Day War Era

Abstract

The 12-Day War of 2025 between Israel and Iran generated a surge of social cohesion within Iranian society, necessitating institutional consolidation. This study aims to analyze the capacities of the Law of the Seventh Five-Year Progress Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran in stabilizing social cohesion during the aforementioned post-war period. The research utilizes a synthesized theoretical framework drawn from Allameh Tabatabai’s thought—centering on “Credit Perceptions” (Idrakat-e I’tibari) and his views in volumes 2 and 4 of Al-Mizan—and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Shah-Abadi’s concepts in the book Shadharat al-Ma’arif. The research methodology employed is Thematic Analysis, with an approach to presenting a schematic model within a thematic network. The findings are presented within a model comprising three levels of cohesion (micro, meso, and macro) and four functional systems. The results indicate that this Law possesses a relatively coherent structural logic for institutionalizing social cohesion, as well as a society-centered approach, and endeavors to institutionalize organic solidarity. However, in facing the "state of suspension" characteristic of the post-war era, the Law suffers from four categories of shortcomings: temporal-procedural, institutional-structural, content-functional, and strategic-security. These shortcomings erode the spontaneous wartime solidarity before the long-term solutions embedded in the Law can take effect. Therefore, transforming this document into a viable mechanism for realizing national cohesion requires establishing a cognitive engineering and rapid response headquarters, deploying a people-centered crisis management system based on local institutions, shifting from targeted support to an economy of brotherhood (Eqtesad-e Okhovvat), and redesigning security policy toward people-centered networking.