Investigating Offset Contracts as an Insurance Mechanism for Enhancing National Security

Given the ongoing tensions in the international community in the present era national security concerns have become a top priority for most countries. The contracts that underpin trade relations, such as offset contracts, are one of the means for enhancing national security. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of offset contracts as an insurance mechanism for promoting national security. In this regard, national security in five dimensions of economic, military, political, social and cultural security, were examined. The statistical population of this study consists of all trade, security and economics experts that are related to these fields. This research is applied in terms of its type and purpose and in terms of data collection method can be characterized as a descriptive-survey and a correlation study in type. The sampling methods adopted were the Convenience Judgmental Sampling and Snowball and the sample size was determined by the Theoretical Saturation Method. To achieve this purpose this purpose, a suitable questionnaire was prepared and distributed among the sample members. Subsequently, 25 of the received responses were analyzed using the SPSS and Smart PLS software and Structural Equation Methods. The results of the analysis indicate that the use of offset contracts has a positive and significant effect on national security. Moreover, a positive and significant impact on economic, military, political, social and cultural security was confirmed. Findings showed that the use of offset contracts as an insurance mechanism with a significant coefficient of 33.649 has a positive and significant effect on national security and the magnitude of this effect is 0.645; Furthermore, the positive and significant effect of offset contracts on economic, military, political and social security was confirmed with significant coefficients of 51.267, 22.902, 29.086 and 9.722, respectively. However, its impact on cultural security was rejected with a factor of 1.039. The results of this study indicate that by using offset contracts as an insurance mechanism, the Islamic Republic of Iran can enjoy several benefits in various dimensions of national security, the most important of which is economic security.