Bound Volume Number

Volume IV

Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-2016

Capstone Advisor

Mehrzad Boroujerdi

Capstone Major

International Relations

Capstone College

Arts and Science

Audio/Visual Component

no

Keywords

The JCPA

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Social Sciences

Subject Categories

International and Area Studies

Abstract

On July 14, 2015, Iran, the European Union, and the P5 +1, the five permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council—Paris, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, and China—plus Germany, agreed on and signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The JCPA, a nuclear deal, agreed to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program. This research conducts a qualitative discourse analysis by using UN General Assembly Debate speeches from 2001 to 2015, and illustrates which key elements within these speeches made way for this negotiation to take place. More specifically, the use of Iran’s religious rhetoric—exemplified through Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—and the U.S.’s hostile language—exemplified through George Bush—both had implications on U.S.-Iran nuclear relations; similarly, language within these speeches revealed Barack Obama’s approach to diplomacy and prioritization of the nuclear deal and Iran, along with Hassan Rouhani’s willingness to emphasize the economic sanctions’ negative impact on everyday Iranians. Therefore, through the use of these speeches, this research reveals the implications of language on Iranian-American relations and how these implications have varied in accordance with specific presidential worldviews.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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