Detta examensarbete utgår från det outredda faktum att den Islamiska republiken Iran (IRI) har kunnat driva fram sin agenda för självständighet och suveränitet från imperialistiskt och kolonialt ärvda dominansstrukturer. Denna agenda som är baserad på en militant diskurs om motstånd och fred har möjliggjort för IRI att exponentiellt vinna regionalt och internationellt inflytande trots sin brist på militär och ekonomisk hård makt. Genom att tillämpa diskursanalys (arkeologi och genealogi) på huvudsakligen iranska primär källor, t.ex. IRI:s konstitution och anföranden vid Förenta Nationernas generalförsamling (FNGA), syftar uppsats till att svara på frågan: vilken är den narrativa attraktionen av IRI:s utrikespolitiska diskurs, såsom den har presenterats vid FNGA:s öppningssessioner under de första 40 åren? Uppsatsen drar slutsatsen att IRI:s utrikespolitiska diskurs, inriktad på statsbaserat motstånd mot dominans, mynnar ut i ett narrativ med attraktionskraft vilket sammantaget skapar legitimitet och handlingsutrymme för IRI:s utrikespolitiska intressen. Genom en analys av IRI:s utrikespolitiska diskurs som grundar sig på en läsning av IRI:s utrikespolitik inom och genom dess egen logik, avser uppsatsen att fylla ett gap i forskningen av IRI:s utrikespolitik genom en omfattande tillämpning av primära iranska källor. / This Master Thesis departs from the puzzling fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has been able to push forward its agenda of independence and sovereignty from imperially and colonially inherited systems of dominance, based in a militant discourse of resistance and peace, exponentially gaining regional and international influence, despite its lack of military and economic hard power. Applying discourse analysis (archaeology and genealogy) on mainly Iranian primary sources, e.g. IRI’s constitution and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speeches, the thesis seeks to answer the question: which is the narrative attraction of IRI’s foreign policy discourse as it has been presented at the UNGA opening sessions during its first 40 years? The thesis concludes that IRI’s foreign policy discourse, which is focused on state-based resistance to domination, emanates to a narrative attraction, thus generating legitimacy and space of manoeuvre for its foreign policy interests. By analysing IRI’s foreign policy discourse based on a reading of IRI’s foreign policy within its own logics, the thesis intends to fill a gap in the research of IRI’s foreign policy through the extensive use of primary Iranian sources.

This study explores Iran’s political and cultural history in order to better understand the country’s current stance on international politics and peace. This study asks: what defines peace in Iranian discourse? To this end, this thesis employs a Foucauldian archaeological and genealogical methodology on historical research and contemporary primary sources. The historical data is mainly secondary sources, whilst primary sources are drawn from contemporary speeches, interviews and articles presenting Iranian foreign political thought. First of all, this study uncovers the major research gaps concerning Iran in peace research. This speaks to the general lack of diversity and inclusiveness in the subject of Peace and Conflict studies, which is contrary to its claim of being universally relevant. Relevance comes with knowledge of other traditions and conversations across divides, which is typically absent in a universalised provincialism. Secondly, contemporary Iranian political discourse represents a continuity from antiquity, incorporating deep-rooted practises of cosmopolitanism and structural peace, represented by 4000-years of experiences in state-building, conflict management, continuous movement of people and changing centres of political power. In short, Iran has a long experience of multi-polarity, multi-ethnicity and multi-religiosity across time and space.