Uppsatsens syfte är att studera hur USA (re)producerar eller säkrar en specifik version av sin identitet genom att lämna det internationella kärnenergiavtalet med Iran eller JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Studien går bortom de traditionella perspektiven inom säkerhetsstudier och inkluderar identitet som något som kan bli hotat och skyddat. Enligt poststrukturalisten David Campbell säkrar den amerikanska staten sin identitet genom representationer av fara eller genom porträtteringen av den Andra som ett hot i diskurser. Dessa identitetsrepresentationer analyseras i Donald Trumps JCPOA-tal med hjälp av Laclau och Mouffes diskursiva metod. Studien visar att Iran bidrar till att ge USA en bild av sig själv som en fredsfrämjande stat, som en ansvarsfull världsledare som tar ansvar över den nationella, regionala och internationella freden och säkerheten. / The aim of the study is to investigate how the U.S. (re)produces or secures a particular version of its political identity through its foreign policy towards Iran. More specifically through its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal or JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). The study goes beyond conventional security studies and includes identity as something that can be threatened and secured. Accordning to the Poststructuralist David Campbell the American state secures its identity through representations of danger or through the depiction of the Other as a threat in discourse. These identity representations are analyzed in Donald Trumps JCPOA statements with the help of Laclau and Mouffes discourse analytical method. The study shows that Iran provides the U.S. with a sense of it self as a peace promoting state, a responsible world leader that takes responsibility over national, regional and international peace and security.

Diplomatic relations between states do sometimes go backwards in their process and development. One of these cases is the United States-Iranian diplomatic relation which has gone backwards in its development. This study is based on two main different theories, the Habermasian model and the Hobbesian trap. This, with the purpose to understand how lack of consensus and presence of fear are the reasons for the disruption of the United States-Iranian relations' development. The results have shown different directions, concerning the theories, in which they can affect the countries bilateral relations. The main reasons for the disruption of the relations, from the Iranians' perspective, are due to their interpretive concerning United States willingness to be the leader of the international community. From the Americans' perspective, the disruptions are due to their interpretive concerning Iranians' attachment to their own nuclear programme. The conclusion of this study shows how lack of consensus and presence of fear has prevented the United States-Iranian diplomatic relation to develop, and that the theories potency of strength, therefore, is high.

The spread of nuclear weapons is one of the greatest threats to world peace and has generateda scholarly debate concerning what underlying factors drive nuclear proliferation.Iran had for many years been accused of trying to develop a clandestine nuclear weapons programwhich has been a source of great concernon the world stage.The aim of thispaper is to understand Iran ́s decision to sign the JCPOA and thereby refraining from building nuclear weapons.Three non-proliferation models;the security model, the domestic model and the norms modelwill be used to analyze Iran ́s decision and to test theirrespectiveexplanatory power. The findings of this paper show thatseveral factors contributed to Iran ́s decision to sign the JCPOA. First, economic sanctionscontributed to a strong publicopposition to the regimes nuclear policies. Second, a negative image of the nuclear program in the eyes of the population further amplified public opposition.These two factors put pressure on the regime to find a solution to the nuclear issuebecause they saw this public opposition as a threat to their survival.Third, anincreased influence ofanti-nuclear factionsin Iran ́s political systemput increased pressure on the Supreme Leader to find a solution to the nuclear issue. Fourth, the regimes perception that a nuclear weapon would decreaseIran ́s security which reduced the incentives to proliferate. All these factors put together created the circumstances for Iran to sign the JCPOA and chose the path of nuclear restraint. These findings support the assumptions of the domestic-and norm model while putting the importance of the security model in question.Iran ́s continued nuclear restraint relies on increasing theeconomic and politicalcostsof pursuing a nuclear weapon whiledecreasingthesecurity incentivesof having one.

This study offers a glimpse into how the transatlantic relationship between the European Union (the EU) and the United States of America (the U.S.) has developed during the last three presidential administrations, including the Trump administration. To do this, the study has developed a frame- work on transatlantic convergence, divergence, and drift, which it uses to analyses similarities and differences within the different parties’ discourses on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The study concludes that while there has been some divergence with all three U.S administrations, how- ever there has been far more convergence with the Bush and Obama administration than with the Trump administration. Moreover, this study argues that Trump administration represents in some ways a ’transatlantic drift’, since the parties have opposing views on the Iran deal (JCPOA) and cherish widely different fundamental security values.

自2002年秘密運作的核能設施曝光後，伊朗的核能政策一直是國際爭點且令人費解。若要討論伊朗核能政策是如何產出及其未來的走勢，本文認為伊朗本身的動機才是決定核能政策的關鍵。 本文以「個人－國內政治－國際政治」三層次作為分析架構，首先討論核能政策的發展歷程及其對伊朗的意義；其次分析伊朗最高宗教領袖Khamenei及伊朗政治派系如何影響核能政策；最後聚焦於2009年綠色運動後至2015年JCPOA簽訂這段期間，伊朗最高宗教領袖Khamenei與核能政策演變的關係。 本文發現伊朗的政治菁英對核能政策有高度共識，認為發展核能政策代表著實踐伊朗的大國意識與民族尊嚴、經濟與能源多元化的自主發展以及安全上的保障。另外，從政治派系角度出發，核能政策也被視為派系鬥爭中的槓桿，是政治菁英獲得權力的工具。同時，基於伊朗特殊的政治體制－－教法學家體系，最高宗教領袖Khamenei為伊朗權力體系中的第一人，其態度與政治取向決定了核能政策的走向。而在最高宗教領袖Khamenei決定核能政策的走向時，其必須將國內外政經局勢納入考量，並時時權衡當前的局勢是否會影響其作為最高宗教領袖的合法性。本文認為，若能繼續對最高宗教領袖Khamenei加以觀察，並分析其與國內政治派系的互動，將有助於未來對伊朗核能政策的了解並對伊朗政治帶來更全面的研究。

‘Narrative’ has become such a pervasive term in media and political jargon that its theoretical backbone has become harder to trace. With this in mind, this thesis seeks to contribute to the theoretical understanding of narratives in international relations research, with a focus on the European Union. This thesis begins with a discussion on narratives in the international system, what kinds of power they exert, and how they provide structure. This will lead into the conceptual debate of narratives as tools vs narratives as identity, which will in turn raise questions about how actors use narratives to maintain ontological security. Within the context of the EU, these questions are of particular relevance, as the struggle to create a narrative for the EU is well documented. Moreover, there remains a struggle to convince member states of the importance of an EU narrative identity. This thesis will examine the area of common foreign and security policy (CFSP) through the lens of narrative analysis. The case study of the formation and projection of the EU narrative on the Iran Nuclear Deal has been selected to determine whether or not member states in the EU are faithful to EU foreign policy narratives. An analytical framework has been developed based on strategic narrative theory and will be used to test narrative output from the EU, Germany, and France on the subject of the Iran Nuclear Deal. The results of this analysis will be considered using a reflexive approach. The goal of this research is not to implicate EU member states or to imply a lack of commitment to EU CFSP. Rather, this thesis seeks to demonstrate how deep-seated narratives affect even the closest of alliances. This thesis also seeks to encourage policy makers and scholars to consider the importance of narrative integration in EU research.

This essay examines how energy security has influenced the EuropeanUnion's stand in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2022. The study aims to provide a better knowledge of the current political atmosphere and the challenges to the European Union's energy needs in comparison to the other parties involved in the JCPOA (the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom). This paper employed a single case study method to assess the European Union's position in the JCPOA using theories of energy security and balance of power. The findings revealed that sanctions imposed on Iran's oil and gas fields had a significant impact on its economy, and Iran used a variety of threats to the global energy market to balance the exporter-importer equation. One of the targets is the European Union, which is one of the world's top energy importers. Iran has increased the price of energy by disrupting the Strait of Hormuz and assaulting Saudi Arabia's oil facilities by supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Furthermore, Russia has dreamed of a new rise following the collapse of the Soviet Union by controlling the European Union's energy market through its influence in Iran and attacking its neighbors such as Georgia and Ukraine, which are considered transit countries. One might conclude that among the parties involved in the JCPOA, China is benefiting from Iranian cheap oil, which Iran cannot sell in the global energy market, and Russia has a participant on the Iranian side known as the shadow government, the Revolutionary Guards Corps which seems -based on Leakedaudio of Zarif, former Iranian Foreign affairs minister- it acts according to the Russian interests rather the Iranian interests. Furthermore, Russia has been creating a new international order by soft balancing and constructing a hegemon on the European Union's energy market. Russia is doing this hegemon through oil and gas contracts with Central Asian countries that are landlocked and cannot easily bypass supplying energy sources to the European Union, as well as invading its former Soviet countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, which are considered transit countries. Energy producers among the West Bloc countries included in the JCPOA are theUnited States and the United Kingdom. France and Germany are two of the EU's founding nations that rely heavily on energy imports. It is crucial that the EU honours the JCPOA in order to ensure its energy security.