When intentions go awry: The bush administration's foreign policy rhetoric

Cole, Timothy M.

doi:10.1080/10584609.1996.9963097

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…While the president was very careful to detail only those atrocities that took place in Kuwait, the cruelty he ascribed to Saddam and his people would require that they be overthrown and put on trial. Bush's failure to do so has been considered a failure of his foreign policy (Cole 1996). That the narrative of horrific abuses is absent in nonintervention expresses the degree to which presidential rhetoric is sensitive to this consequence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although it was not the first military encounter of the post‐Cold War era, 4 the Gulf War is widely regarded as a harbinger and representative of a new kind of international crisis and a new type of rhetorical exigency (Cole 1996; Kuypers 1997; Ivie 1996; Pollock 1994). For the first time since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, America confronted an enemy it perceived as formidable and required the enlistment of public support as it deployed its forces in a faraway land.…”

Section: The Rhetoric Of Atrocities and Global Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rhetoric of Atrocities: The Place of Horrific Human Rights Abuses in Presidential Persuasion Efforts

Ben‐Porath

2007

Pres Stud Q

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An analysis of presidential rhetoric in the post‐Cold War era finds that in building the case for imminent war, presidents turn to narrative descriptions of specific atrocities, namely rape, torture, and victimization of children. By the same token, presidents wishing to avoid American involvement in war use abstract terms and statistical information concerning human rights crises, but refrain from detailing personalized stories of abuse. This study expands on the theory of savagery as a necessary component in enemy construction and on the literature concerning the changing rhetorical landscape of the post‐Cold War era. The analysis finds the rhetoric of atrocities employed and avoided, in similar fashion, by three presidents and across several different settings. The implications are discussed in the article.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Rhetoric Of Atrocities and Global Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhetoric of Atrocities: The Place of Horrific Human Rights Abuses in Presidential Persuasion Efforts

Ben‐Porath

2007

Pres Stud Q

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“…''Going it alone'' was no longer the moral logic, and fear of ''evildoers'' no longer the corresponding impetus to moral fortitude, that marked the rhetorical demonology of George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign (Spielvogal, 2005, p. 561) and his presidency (Ivie & Giner, 2007). War was no longer the orientational metaphor of choice (Cole, 1996). Emphasis shifted accordingly from imposing the nation's will on the world to engaging in an inclusive problemsolving process.…”

Section: Obama's Democratic Exceptionalismmentioning

confidence: 97%

American Exceptionalism in a Democratic Idiom: Transacting the Mythos of Change in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

Ivie

Giner

2009

Communication Studies

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The mythos of the 2008 presidential campaign rhetoric is examined for the potential it reveals to transform political culture from within, specifically to articulate a synergic relationship between American exceptionalism and democracy that depolarizes political discourse and promotes interdependency in the form of collaborative and complementary relations. Barack Obama's campaign mantra of change was ritually resisted and reinforced by the symbolic act of John McCain's heroic last stand, which dramatized an attitudinal shift away from national chauvinism and toward a more democratic ethos. This shift was expressed by Obama in a prophetic discourse of restoration and renewal that would turn the myth of exceptionalism into a certification of democratic aspirations and democracy into a vehicle for pursuing the American dream.

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“…Yet, post-Reagan administrations have been subjected to the same excavation of motivational vocabularies so that these vocabularies can, in turn, be critiqued for their limits. George H. W. Bush, for example, has been claimed to be reliant on metaphor of war and civilization, creating an orientation in which both military and humanitarian practices became strategems in a larger conflict over global influence (Bates, 2004;Cole, 1996). Similarly, Bill Clinton's ''new partnership'' offered a narrative that would use democracy promotion in support of US interests and reinforce the US position as a world leader in the post-Cold War threat environment (Edwards & Valenzano, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

Mapping US Humanitarian Aid: A Pentadic Cartography of Michael Leavitt'sHealth Diplomacy

Bates

2014

Communication Studies

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Anderson and Prelli argued that pentadic cartography could be used to examine the motivational vocabularies of discourses and to provide alternative vocabularies for negotiating rhetorical terrains. Applications of pentadic cartography have used Kenneth Burke's principles to examine and critique the motivational vocabularies of a variety of texts but have less often mapped proposed alternative vocabularies. This article expands the application of pentadic cartography by demonstrating the value of a full mapping process. This study examines two potential mappings of former Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt's speech outlining US health diplomacy. Two maps are generated: a pragmatic map centered on an agency-purpose ratio and an idealist map centered on an agent-act ratio. Each mapping is assessed for its abilities to open and to close the universe of discourse. The importance of fully mapping humanitarian discourses is outlined.

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When intentions go awry: The bush administration's foreign policy rhetoric

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Rhetoric of Atrocities: The Place of Horrific Human Rights Abuses in Presidential Persuasion Efforts

Rhetoric of Atrocities: The Place of Horrific Human Rights Abuses in Presidential Persuasion Efforts

American Exceptionalism in a Democratic Idiom: Transacting the Mythos of Change in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

Mapping US Humanitarian Aid: A Pentadic Cartography of Michael Leavitt'sHealth Diplomacy

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