Iranian Discourse and Dialogue

Abstract

I will try to explain the reasons why Iran cannot be a representative of the Islamic civilization. That the fact that Shia interpretation of Islam is the formal religion and that this sect is not so common in Islamic geography are the main factors why Iran couldn’t have been so influential on other Islamic states. I will also try to explain how influential the Persian culture has been on today’s Islamic culture and how this effect negatively influenced the struggles for dialogue. I will also be so concerned with the following topics; how the Kerbela-oriented thinking led them to make various mistakes, why they are unable to offer an alternative paradigm, why they are trying to be integrated into the international system, how Iran asserts itself with a kind of discourse of inter-civilizational dialogue while adopting a sort of realist-based foreign policy keeping their interests prior, especially Khatemi’s saying that Iran is the mere Islamic state that can undergo dialogue with the West and how consistent the Iranian claim of being an intersecting point of the Eastern and Western cultures.  

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