Projecting the future through political discourse : the case of the Bush Doctrine / Patricia L. Dunmire.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dunmire, Patricia L.

Series:

Discourse approaches to politics, society, and culture ; v. 41.

Discourse approaches to politics, society, and culture ; v. 41

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discourse analysis--Political aspects--United States.

Discourse analysis.

World politics--21st century.

World politics.

United States--Foreign relations--21st century.

United States.

Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-.

Bush, George W.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (230 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This monograph examines the rhetorical nature and function of representations of the future in political discourse, focusing on political actors' use of hegemonic images of future "reality" to achieve their political goals. It argues that a key ideological dimension of political rhetoric lies in politicians' use of projections of the future to legitimate policies and actions. This argument is grounded in systemic-functional and critical discourse analyses of the "Bush Doctrine," the U.S. policy response to the September 11 terrorist attacks which sanctioned a "preemptive" military posture. By focusing on the discursive construction of the future, this project addresses a lacunae in critical discourse studies and calls attention to the crucial role that the discourse and practice of "futurology" has played in post-Cold War politics and society. It will be of value to scholars interested in the discourses of politics, the "war on terror," U.S. national security, and futurology.

Contents:

Projecting the Future through Political Discourse

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Dedication page

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Introduction

Project overview

Contribution to critical discourse studies

Why study discourse about the future?

The future in social and cultural life

The future in political discourse

Analytic framework: Critical discourse analysis and systemic-functional linguistics

Data: The articulation and evolution of the Bush Doctrine

Chapter overview

Chapter 2. The Politics, rhetoric, and ideology of projecting the future

The modernist future: Knowable and controllable

Reclaiming the future as potentiality and possibility

Projecting the future in news media and policy discourse

News Media discourse: "Waiting for action and pushing it along"

Policy discourse: Constructing and legitimating imperatives for action

Conclusion

Chapter 3. Securing the future for the "American Peace"

Introduction

Preempting the future: Construals of agency in the 2002 National Security Strategy

Legitimating preemptive intervention through proximization

From the Cold War to the war on terrorism: Construing the past, projecting the future

Creating imminence: Conflating present character with future action

Knowing the future: Redefining preemption

Chapter 4. Prefiguring the future

Construing field: Contrasting agency, reifying the "threat"

Intertextual context

Tenor relations: Implicating the public

Mood: Positioning the public

October speech

March speech

Evidentiality: Privileging the Bush future

Axiological legitimation: Protecting a future that favors freedom

Chapter 5. Transforming national security, legitimating preventive war

Introduction.

Critical intertextual analysis

2002 National Security Strategy: A synchronic analysis of the Bush Doctrine

Creating disjunctions: Legitimating and naturalizing the preventive war doctrine

Transforming national defense: Ensuring a "Just Peace" through preventive war

From "preemption" to "prevention": Linguistic transformation and semantic obfuscation

Chapter 6. Preserving "Pax Americana"

Preserving "Pax Americana": Intertextual origins of the Bush doctrine

Chapter 7. "Clear and present danger"

Analysis

Contextualizing the future

Constructing agency through dialogic discourse

Knowing the future and its alternatives

Discussion and conclusion

Concluding remarks

Postscript

Works cited

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613128263

9781283128261

1283128268

9789027286932

9027286930

OCLC:

733732776