This thesis argues that the shortcomings of modernist liberal defences of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses have helped to draw debate over the book into a stalemate. It also attempts to demonstrate how aspects of this stalemate might be broken. Chapter One contains a brief philosophical survey of the debate, juxtaposing the framework relativism propounded by Rushdie and many of his advocates with the absolutism of Rushdie's Muslim detractors. The chapter closes with an analysis of the contradictions present in Rushdie's relativistic defence of his novel. / Chapter Two opens with a short argument against existing blasphemy laws. The philosophical sketches in Chapter One are applied to the contents of the novel itself, producing an outline of the contending views of "literary contest" and "authorial intention" held by the two sides in the debate, and illuminating Rushdie's apparent confusion about the purposes of his novel. / Chapter Three proposes a solution--based on philosopher Alasdair McIntyre's thought--to defects in modernist liberal defences of The Satanic Verses.

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This thesis is an analysis of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses and The Moor's Last Sigh. The approach is twofold: (a) it seeks to establish an interplay between the concept of exile-in-narration (theme) and narrators-in-exile (form) as a reflection upon questions of rootlessness; and (b) it seeks to underscore this interplay as a recurring 'double bind' within each novel, such that the novels form a loosely bound trilogy that functions as a developing discourse on individual and national identity from a decentred perspective. The aim is similarly twofold: (a) it proposes that the metaphor of exile as a polarized state manifests itself as either an unreflecting pull of opposites or as a thoughtful acceptance of the inter-connectedness between ideas, people, places and things; and (b) it argues that once this polarization becomes evident, it disturbs all static narratives of selfhood and community to the point at which they can be reconceptualized, and yet remain open-ended.

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This thesis aims to conceptualize what is often referred to in diplomacy, as a policy of “constructive engagement”, by employing neoliberal-institutionalist theories and conflict resolution approaches. The adopted “model for constructive engagement” serves as the theoretical framework and centres on the basic assumption that non-coercive diplomacy coupled with the offer of incentives is best suited at resolving conflict as well as promoting human rights in international relations. Rather than looking at determinants of foreign policy making, the thesis focuses, therefore, on the actual exercise of power and influence in international relations. As such, power, both in terms of a state’s available assets as well as seen as a form causation, is considered the crucial variable in determining diplomatic manoeuvring and negotiation behaviour. The empirical context for the research project is provided by the case of British-Iranian relations during the period from 1989 to 2004. The narrative is divided into two parts: the first one deals with the impact of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini on bilateral relations and investigates British diplomacy towards Tehran, which followed the European Union’s policy of “Critical Dialogue” with Iran. Whilst the promotion of human rights was on the agenda of the “Critical Dialogue”, findings indicate that contrary to other EU member states, most notably Germany, Whitehall was able to genuinely pursuing a policy of “constructive engagement”, demanding meaningful changes in Iranian behaviour. However, findings also show that Britain’s priority was at resolving the “Rushdie affair” and not necessarily at promoting and protecting human rights in Iran. The second part of the narrative looks at the “Comprehensive Dialogue” which was implemented by the European Union in 2000 and established a direct linkage between economic rewards and the improvements of human rights in Iran. Whilst the Iranian government and parliament met EU demands, the country’s maze of power centres, most notably those dominated by hardliners and conservatives, worked against any meaningful improvements in the protection and respect of human rights. Both narratives indicate to what extent diplomacy and negotiations were influenced by domestic constituents, referred to as the Two-Level Game, as well as by asymmetries of interdependence between the EU and Iran. Overall, the data implies that constructive engagement, whilst subject to political and economic interdependence, constitutes an effective form of human rights diplomacy.

This dissertation explores the porous boundaries between Salman Rushdie's fiction and the various manifestations of the filmic vision, especially in Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses, and other selected Rushdie texts. My focus includes a chapter on Midnight's Children, in which I analyze the cinematic qualities of the novel's form, content, and structure. In this chapter I formulate a theory of the post-colonial novel which notes the hybridization of Rushdie's fiction, which process reflects a fragmentation and hybridization in Indian culture. I show how Rushdie's book is unique in its use of the novelization of film. I also argue that Rushdie is a narrative trickster. In my second chapter I analyze the controversial The Satanic Verses. My focus is the vast web of allusions to the film and television industries in the novel. I examine the way Rushdie tropes the "spiritual vision" in cinematic terms, thus shedding new light on the controversy involving the religious aspects of the novel which placed Rushdie on the most renowned hit-list of modern times. I also explore the phenomenon of the dream as a kind of interior cinematic experience. My last chapter explores several other instances in Rushdie's works that are influenced by a filmic vision, with specific examples from Haroun and the Sea of Stories, "The Firebird's Nest," and numerous other articles, interviews, and essays involving Rushdie. In my conclusion I discuss some of the emerging similarities between film and the novel, born out of the relatively recent technology of video cassette recorders and players, and I examine the democratizing effects of this relatively new way of seeing.