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Bush Anti-terrorism Discourse Analysis

Posted on:2010-01-16Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:L WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1116360275999603Subject:International relations
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
This dissertation explores and investigates how George W. Bush illustrates the issues related to terrorism and the War on Terror, in an attempt to build a model which can help to explain the interaction between foreign policy discourse, foreign policy, and American social conceptions.The dissertation defines George W. Bush's remarks after the "9.11" terrorist attacks as "anti-terrorism discourses", especially those remarks concerning the justification of the War on Terror. The author uses them as an example of foreign policy discourse.Bush's "anti-terrorism discourses" are deeply rooted in American religious fundamentalism, conservative morality, and the neoconservative world-view. For these reasons they can easily cater to, and manipulate, people's perceptions of the War on Terror.The American media also plays a major role in promoting Bush's "anti-terrorism discourses," and convinces people to support Bush's war. Much of the media have been twisting or otherwise misrepresenting the facts in their reports, especially in the run-up to, and during the early stages of, the war against Iraq.Bush's "anti-terrorism discourses", and the related propaganda by the media, not only motivated the American people to support the war on terror, but also have had dramatic influence on the American people's view of the "terrorists" and the roots of terrorism. Thus, it's reasonable to conclude that even when Bush ends his time in office, the American policy on terrorism will not undergo any significant change.The author considers it legitimate to build a model which shows that those foreign policy discourses, originating from prevailing American perceptions based on culture and religion, have reinforced these perceptions in the process of promoting specific foreign policy.From this model we become aware that American foreign policy discourses don't always reflect the truth of its foreign policy. Consequently, the perceptions they reflect and reinforce, need to be paid attention to.The methodology used in the dissertation is discourse analysis based on social constructivism and cognition theory. Corpus are built to provide data for the analysis.
Keywords/Search Tags:discourse, discourse analysis, the War on Terror
PDF Full Text Request
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