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Narrating success and failure: congressional debates on the ‘Iran nuclear deal’

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 09:11 authored by Kai Oppermann, Alexander Spencer
This article applies a method of narrative analysis to investigate the discursive contestation over the ‘Iran nuclear deal’ in the United States. Specifically, it explores the struggle in the US Congress between narratives constituting the deal as a US foreign policy success or failure. The article argues that foreign policy successes and failures are socially constructed through narratives and suggests how narrative analysis as a discourse analytical method can be employed to trace discursive contests about such constructions. Based on insights from literary studies and narratology, it shows that stories of failures and successes follow similar structures and include a number of key elements, including a particular setting; a negative/positive characterization of individual and collective decision-makers; and an emplotment of success or failure through the attribution of credit/blame and responsibility. The article foregrounds the importance of how stories are told as an explanation for the dominance or marginality of narratives in political discourse.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

European Journal of International Relations

ISSN

1354-0661

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Issue

2

Volume

24

Page range

268-292

Department affiliated with

  • Politics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex European Institute Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-12-05

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-12-05

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-12-05

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