meisam naghshi

This research aims to analyze Iranshahri discourse as a modern identity discourse of Iranians in terms of contemporary economy and politics. Since the modern formation of this discourse has appeared in Javad Tabatabaei’s works, the articulation of this discourse and the reason for its hegemony are examined according to his writings. Then, we examined the formation of the concept of emptiness in Iranshahri discourse using Laclau's methodology. The theoretical concept of this research suggested that Iranshahri discourse aims to interpret the emptiness created by neoliberalism through his particular political philosophy. Thus, we recognized the following parameters in Tabatabaei's political philosophy: the emptiness of otherness, eliminating people and building nations, alienated people, and imposing consensus in his political philosophy analysis. The above concepts showed that Iranshahri discourse and his political philosophy attempt to construct Iranian identity and justify the status quo by drawing the masses’ attention to something other than neoliberalism crises.