Political Society of the Twelve-Day War in the Islamic Republic of Iran: An Analysis of State-Society Relations

The Twelve-Day War of 2025 was one of the most significant security and political events affecting contemporary Iran, generating considerable social and political consequences. This study adopts a political sociology perspective to examine the impact of the conflict on patterns of political behavior, social cohesion, and state-nation relations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The central research question explores how the Twelve-Day War influenced citizens’ political attitudes, perceptions of governmental legitimacy, and the reconfiguration of the relationship between the state and society.
The research is grounded in the theoretical framework of political society, emphasizing the interaction between external security threats, social solidarity, and political behavior. Employing a qualitative descriptive-analytical approach, the study analyzes media discourse, political commentaries, analytical reports, and the public positions of political elites to identify dominate patterns in political and social responses during and after the conflict.
The finding indicate that the war temporarily strengthened national cohesion, reduced visible political polarization, and reinforced symbolic support for the state during the period of external threat. However, these effects proved to be largely contingent upon the exceptional circumstances of the crisis. The persistence of structural challenges, declining social capital, and limited institutional trust prevented the emergence of long-term changes in political legitimacy and state-nation relations. The study concludes that while external military threats may generate short-term solidarity and conditional political support, they are insufficient to produce enduring transformations in the relationship between the state and society without sustained improvements in governance, institutional performance, and public trust.