Who benefits from the sanitized language of violence? / Matthew Fyjis-Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fyjis-Walker, Matthew, author.

Series:

International studies on military ethics ; Volume 14.

International Studies on Military Ethics Series ; Volume 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military law--Great Britain.

Military law.

Military ethics--Great Britain.

Military ethics.

Law--Great Britain--Language.

Law.

Civil-military relations--Great Britain.

Civil-military relations.

War (International law).

Violence (Law).

Euphemism.

Great Britain--Military policy.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (80 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Leiden, The Netherlands : Brill, [2024]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Language is not neutral; it determines, and is determined, by perspective. This volume explores the role of an influential vocabulary of war, sanitised language, the language that seeks to clean up the appearance of events through euphemism, abstract words and opaque phrases. Critical discourse analysis of the language of recent military campaigns shows that the public authorities do not explain events as clearly as they might. Despite social, political and strategic incentives to use sanitised language, its use appears to undermine the democratic process and reduce public authorities’ freedoms, possibly emboldening adversaries and turning away potential partners.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half Title

Series Information

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Does the Model of Surrogacy Offer Value to the Analysis of Civil-Military Relations in the UK?

1 Clausewitz's Trinities Explored

2 Nation-Government Relations in UK, Clausewitzian?

3 Surrogacy an Alternate Model?

4 Or a Synthesis of the Two?

Chapter 2 Literature Review

1 Language, War and Power

2 Sanitised Language

3 Institutional Power

4 Political Myth

5 Public Opinion, Knowledge and Interest

6 British Media and Public Authorities

7 Trust, Transparency, Secrecy

Chapter 3 Methodology

1 Research Objectives

2 Position of the Researcher

3 Armed Forces Covenant - The Experiment Framework

4 Research Design and Methods

5 Open-Source Data

6 Interviews

7 Limitations and Trustworthiness

Chapter 4 Findings

1 Libya Introduction

2 Overarching Narrative

3 Regime Change

4 Civilian Casualties

5 Post-campaign

6 Iraq and Syria - Counter Daesh Coalition

7 Overarching Narrative

8 Killing to Success?

9 General Human Rights - Drones

10 Trends?

Chapter 5 Discussion

1 Was It Ever Thus?

2 What Do These Comparisons Tell Us?

3 Does This Matter?

4 Reduced Trust

5 Lack of Understanding

6 So What?

7 What Next?

Bibliography

Back Cover.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Print version: Fyjis-Walker, Matthew Who Benefits from the Sanitized Language of Violence?

ISBN:

9789004696426

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004696426 DOI