The Transformation of the Concept of Security in Constructivist Theory: From Negative to Positive and Sustainable Security
(A Case Study of the Islamic Revolution of Iran)

Abstract:
Following the end of the Cold War, International Relations scholarship increasingly emphasized the social, cultural, and identity-based dimensions of security. Constructivism, by highlighting the social construction of threats, views security as a dynamic phenomenon shaped by identity, culture, and norms. Yet a coherent framework explaining the transformation of security from negative to positive and ultimately to sustainable security remains insufficiently developed. This study reconstructs this transformation as a theoretical continuum within a constructivist framework. Building on the classical distinction between negative and positive security, it introduces sustainable security as a third stage to explain long-term security continuity, particularly in revolutionary and non-Western contexts. The Islamic Revolution of Iran serves as the case study. Using a qualitative and analytical approach based on constructivist literature and Iran’s historical–political documents, the study finds that negative security focuses on survival and threat deterrence; positive security emphasizes social empowerment, trust, and the reconstruction of state–society relations; and sustainable security emerges when security norms are internalized within collective identity and reproduced through intersubjective institutionalization. Post-revolutionary developments demonstrate a shift from reactive to institutionalized and multilayered security. The findings indicate that sustainable security is not merely the sum of negative and positive security, but a distinct quality rooted in the normative internalization of security, contributing to constructivist security theory.