Abstract:
Many academics, worldwide have considered Khatami’s Dialogue of Civilizations as
a powerful rhetoric and antithesis of the so-called ‘Clash of Civilization’
theory. This article, however, tries to show the originality and depth of
Khatami’s vision, framed against the background of ‘the end of history’ and
clash of civilization’ theories, political frames used by political actors in
the post cold war international order. Citing quotations from the number of
speeches delivered by Khatami’s author tries to identify the notions behind the
dialogue, which according to him has been influenced by many philosophical and
religious trends, and which more of less justifies Iranian foreign policy and
protect national interest rather a genuine vision to construct peaceful and just
world. Further, the present article raises many questions regarding the
intellectual indifference and liberal west as non receptive to the dialogue, and
thus, specially in the wake of recent unease around the globe.
Machine summary:
"To move beyond the predominant position of indifference and to give back intellectual dignity to Khatami’s project, I will analyse his idea of Dialogue among Civilisations and argue, contrary to any interest – oriented and realist interpretion that see this political discourse as nothing but a rhetorical escamotage used for strategic reasond, that its originality lies in its implicit International Political Theory that envisages a normative structure for a peaceful (multicultural and globalised) international society beyond the intellectual constraints of the post-89 dominant global political discourses of the ‘end of history’ (or globalisation of relevant given the too many misperceptions of western intellectual and political circles vis a vis the Muslim world ــ I will suggest that Kahmami’s idealist-normative tension is the result of an original fusion of recent developments in western philosophy and poitical theory (dialogism) with the tradition of Islamic spirituality and doctrine known as Sufism.
At this stage, however, a premises is in place: as I mentioned above, I do not take Khatami’s Dialogue among Civilistions’ initiative as a foreign political discourse strictu sensu, that is, as discursive strategy to justify Iranian foreign policy or to protect Iranian national interests, rather as a genuine vision on how to construct a more peaceful and just world order after the end of the Cod War. Statesmen are indeed sometimes at the origin of political visions aiming at the common international good ــ especialy when they are intellectuals, as it is the case for Khatami."