An Analysis on Religious-Ethnic Geopolitics, Security and Development in Border Towns. Case Study: Sistan and Baluchestan

Borders and border areas require security measures, which are very important to create security on the borders. The paper also analyzes the role of ethnic groups living near borderlines. Iran is an ethnically varied country and distinguishing characteristics of ethnic groups from each other in Iran is particularly concentrated on language, religion and ethnic components. These ethnic groups have been scattered as certain minority groups in border provinces and areas. The presence of Iranian nationals in the Western, Eastern and Northern borders which are contiguous with countries with the same religion and language creates by itself an appropriate context for the occurrence of ethnic crises in border areas and boundary underdevelopment is an another cause for this problem. In addition, the three components, namely religion, ethnicity, and language, should be taken into consideration in adopting policies and strategies to deal with these areas. In Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran, there are effective national strategies taking advantage of the presence and existence of religious and ethnic groups in the border towns, adopting security and development policies taking into account these two issues. They have a deep effect on regional development and national solidarity due to construction activities and infrastructure investments on the one hand and reducing insecurity and trafficking on the other hand.