Effectiveness of Economic Sanctions on Nuclear Non-proliferation: Constructing Domestic Effects of International Sanctions within Iran’s Elite Discourse in the Presidential Election of 2013

The increase in the imposition of economic sanctions against nuclear proliferation has been the focus of many academic studies. This research examines the case of Iran by examining the role of discourse in creating nuclear policies during the presidential election in 2013 by presenting material elements of sanctions and ideational elements of Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Ghalibaf. The sanctions were imposed to change Iran’s nuclear choice. Sanctions can serve to change nuclear policy within a wider context of competing discourses during elections. The thesis considers the adequacy of existing analysis within the leading schools of thought and then explains why social constructivism is used. According to constructivism, actors’ interests and identities are shaped socially and constructed by language, where individuals generate influence through ideas, conceptions and meanings. Yet, there has so far been insufficient sustained consideration of the role of discourse in producing policies. This thesis addresses the significant role of issue salience in the discourses of Rouhani and Ghalibaf on sanctions and their contribution to affecting Iran’s nuclear choices. To do so, the thesis analyses the discourses of Rouhani, Ghalibaf, Ali Khamenei, and some texts from the newspapers of Shargh and Kayhan. This study concludes that the main cause of economic harm within Rouhani’s discourse was the sanctions, whereas for Ghalibaf it was mismanagement. Rouhani and Ghalibaf were influenced by sanctions and conceptions of Iran’s identity and interests; therefore, they announced two different approaches to be adopted if elected: a flexible approach to renegotiating the nuclear programme as a high issue salience by Rouhani to improve the economy; and an inflexible approach to renegotiating the nuclear programme as a low issue salience by Ghalibaf. This study demonstrates the importance of the discourse on nuclear policy change based on understanding and explaining the effects of sanctions and actors’ ideational elements.