ABSTRACT
This chapter is different in scope, focussing on the 2009 elections and the subsequent unrest that followed. It has less to do with International Relations (IR) at the state level, but instead exposes the political impact of discourse on representations of identity more generally. Essentially, scholarly and media coverage of the internationally criticised Iranian election that saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gain a second term manifests Western assertions of culture, otherness, modernity, and liberalism. This has consequences for Iran's foreign policy relationship with the West, as it entrenches ideas of the unacceptable nature of otherness as it relates to democracy. To illustrate this clearly, a content analysis of Western editorial media coverage will be utilised displaying the discursive forces at play. This chapter endeavours to show that discourse on democratisation is an important intersection of ideas between West and non-West.
