ABSTRACT
The analysis section of the project begins with an exploration of a key diplomatic junction in Iran's relationship with the West; the Mohammad Khatami presidency's engagement with the George W. Bush administration immediately before and after the 9/11 attacks. It details a short period of co-operation before Iran was designated a member of the “Axis of Evil,” rhetorically solidifying its normative transition to an international pariah. However, it also illustrates the triumph of dialectic foreign policy on the part of the West, over calls for “civilisational” rapprochement. The olive branch extended by Khatami through the Dialogue among Civilisations was essentially rebuked by a reductive binary categorisation of Iran as “evil,” informed by Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilisations thesis. This case is important, as it shows a clear discursive attempt to delegitimise Iran's position in the World, despite a distinct and public effort on the part of Iran to foster detente with the West. This not only emboldened anti-Western discourse within Iran but also provides an example of a missed opportunity for the thawing of tensions between Iran and the West.
