Resecuring ‘the West’ through British and American newspaper framing of the 2018 U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

‘Western civilization’ is constituted through its representations of ‘non-Western’ Others. How, then, does the West secure itself in times of internal crisis? This thesis shows how news framing of the 2018 fallout from the Iran nuclear accord – as a moment of internal crisis – resecured Western identity linked to liberal values and global leadership. Analysing American and British newspapers, this study found that beyond pitting the West against Iran to secure a stable and superior identity, American President Donald Trump was also framed as a ‘rogue’ threat against the West. This framing re-naturalised the West, despite challenges to its very core.