Understanding Political Discourse first draws on a critical phase in the formation of the Islamic rule in Iran, pointing to the immediate identity forged between the ruled and their rulers when insurrection of the people against the Shah's tyrannical rule gives way to their constitution by the Islamic state as a people. Next, the authors analyze the speeches held by two of the candidates running for the 2013 presidential election in Iran, namely Mr. Hassan Rouhani and Mr. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Nationalism, which emerged in 1789 with the French Revolution, has an important place in terms...