Foreign policy discourses of the Obama years / Melinda Kovács.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kovács, Melinda, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Obama, Barack--Influence.

Obama, Barack.

United States--Foreign relations--2009-2017.

United States.

International relations.

Diplomatic relations.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Physical Description:

x, 165 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books, [2018]

Summary:

In order for any action in foreign policy to be possible, it has to first appear as plausible in the spoken and written discourses of foreign policy. This is the basic axiom at the core of the case studies that Kovács carries out in Foreign Policy Discourses of the Obama Years. In each case study, she investigates discursive products such as presidential speeches and news accounts, with the purpose of teasing out what types of meanings emerge. These meanings, she argues, have an impact on what types of foreign policy action the Obama administration could plausibly undertake. The findings show both that foreign policy in the US is mostly understood and evaluated in terms of its impact on domestic politics, and that the study of discourses surrounding foreign policy is a useful tool for assessing administrations. Book jacket.

Contents:

Politics, discourse, policy

New president, new discourse, new policy?

Troop increases in Afghanistan, troop withdrawal from Iraq: is it all about Middle Eastern policy?

Osama bin Laden and the usefulness of an iconic adversary

Under attack: Benghazi and the responses

Speaking of Syria: how discourse can get away from an administration

What it takes to intervene: changes from 2013 to 2014

Conclusion: not so foreign, not so new.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Kovács, Melinda, author. Foreign policy discourses of the Obama years

ISBN:

9781498520805

1498520804

OCLC:

1004770009