1887
Volume 15, Issue 6
  • ISSN 1569-2159
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9862
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

In this contribution, Obama’s in U.S. – Russian relations is viewed in terms of Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. To link the macro-level of discourse theory to the micro-level of linguistic analysis, the empirical study implements the analysis of indexicality ( Chilton 2004 ) and assumptions ( Fairclough 2003 ) as applied in critical discourse analysis. Obama’s first term representations of Russia were examined in four contexts: global nuclear nonproliferation; Iran and North Korea; the New START Treaty; European ABM system and NATO – Russian relations. Articulations in the first and second contexts exhibited Obama’s strategies to construct Russia as partner in his hegemonic project of global nuclear nonproliferation. Articulations in the third context demonstrated Obama’s strategies of creating different discursive Russias to achieve the ratification of START, whereas no strategies proved successful in mitigating the issue of missile defense. In all four contexts, Obama’s construction of Russia was, to various degrees, permeated by ambiguity.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.15.6.05bel
2017-01-31
2024-10-06
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Angermüller, Johannes
    2013 “How to Become an Academic Philosopher. Academic Discourse as a Multileveled Positioning Practice.” Sociología Histórica2: 263–289.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Baturo, Alexander , and Slava Mikhaylov
    2014 “Reading the Tea Leaves: Medvedev’s Presidency Through the Political Rhetoric of Federal and Sub-National Actors.” Europe–Asia Studies66 (6): 969–992. doi: 10.1080/09668136.2014.926716
    https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2014.926716 [Google Scholar]
  3. Browning, Christopher S.
    2008 “Reassessing Putin’s Project: Reflections on IR Theory and the West.” Problems of Post-Communism55 (5): 3–13. doi: 10.2753/PPC1075‑8216550501
    https://doi.org/10.2753/PPC1075-8216550501 [Google Scholar]
  4. Butler, Judith
    1997Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Campbell, David
    1998Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Casula, Philipp
    2007 “Changing Discourses of National Identity and Interest in East and West after Cold War.” Paper presented onthe Section on “Cultural Plurality in IR and IR Practice” at the 6th Pan-European Conference on International Relations in Turin, 12–15 September 2007. AccessedSeptember 30, 2016. www.eisa-net.org/be-bruga/eisa/files/events/turin/Casula-Casula-Turin2007.pdf.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. 2013 “Sovereign Democracy, Populism, and Depoliticization in Russia: Power and Discourse During Putin’s First Presidency.” Problems of Post-Communism60 (3): 3–15. doi: 10.2753/PPC1075‑8216600301
    https://doi.org/10.2753/PPC1075-8216600301 [Google Scholar]
  8. Chilton, Paul
    2004Analysing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Coe, Kevin , and Rico Neumann
    2011 “Finding Foreigners in American National Identity: Presidential Discourse, People, and the International Community.” International Journal of Communication5: 819–840.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Edwards, Jason E. , and Joseph M. Valenzano III
    2007 “Bill Clinton’s “New Partnership” Anecdote: Toward a Post–Cold War Foreign Policy Rhetoric.” Journal of Language and Politics6 (3): 303–325. doi: 10.1075/jlp.6.3.03edw
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.6.3.03edw [Google Scholar]
  11. Fairclough, Norman
    2003Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Hammer, Stefanie
    2010 “The Role of Narrative in Political Campaigning: An Analysis of Speeches by Barack Obama.” National Identities12 (3): 269–290. doi: 10.1080/14608944.2010.503439
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2010.503439 [Google Scholar]
  13. Laclau, Ernesto
    1996Emancipation(s). London: Verso.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Laclau, Ernesto , and Chantal Mouffe
    2001Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. New York: Verso.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Macgilchrist, Felicitas
    2011Journalism and the Political: Discursive Tensions in News Coverage of Russia. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/dapsac.40
    https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.40 [Google Scholar]
  16. Makarychev, Andrey
    2012 “Farewell to the Liberal Technocrat? Reassessing Medvedev’s Foreign Policy Legacy.” EU Foreign Policy, CEPS Commentaries. AccessedSeptember 30, 2016. www.ceps.eu/book/farewell-liberal-technocrat-reassessing-medvedev%E2%80%99s-foreign-policy-legacy.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Морозов, Вячеслав [Morozov, Viatcheslav
    ] 2009Россия и другие. Идентичность и границы политического сообщества [Russia and Others. Identity and Boundaries of a Political Community]. Москва: «Новое литературное обозрене» [Moscow: NLO Books].
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Morozov, Viatcheslav
    2010 “Western Hegemony, Global Democracy, and the Russian Challenge.” InThe Struggle for the West: A Divided and Contested Legacy, ed. by Christopher S. Browning , and Marko Lehti , 185–200. London, NY: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. 2014 “Nature Abhors a Vacuum: What Can a Future Russia-West Settlement Rely on?” Russia in Global Affairs. AccessedSeptember 30, 2016. eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/Nature-Abhors-a-Vacuum-16994.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Müller, Martin
    2009Making Great Power Identities in Russia: An Ethnographic Discourse Analysis of Education at a Russian Elite University. Berlin: LIT Verlag.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Nabers, Dirk
    2009 “Filling the Void of Meaning: Identity Construction in U.S. Foreign Policy After September 11, 2011.” Foreign Policy Analysis5 (2): 191–214. doi: 10.1111/j.1743‑8594.2009.00089.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-8594.2009.00089.x [Google Scholar]
  22. Neumann, Iver B.
    1996Russia as Europe’s Other. EUI Working Papers. Florence: European University Institute.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Nonhoff, Martin
    2006Politischer Diskurs und Hegemonie. Das Projekt “Soziale Marktwirtschaft” [Political Discourse and Hegemony. The Project of “Social Market Economy”]. Bielefeld: Transkript Verlag. doi: 10.14361/9783839404249
    https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839404249 [Google Scholar]
  24. Reyes, Antonio
    2011 “Strategies of Legitimization in Political Discourse: From Words to Actions.” Discourse and Society22 (6): 781–807. doi: 10.1177/0957926511419927
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926511419927 [Google Scholar]
  25. Sarfo, Emmanuel , and Ewuresi Agyeiwaa Krampa
    2013 “Language at War: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Speeches of Bush and Obama on Terrorism.” International Journal of Social Sciences and Education3 (2): 378–390.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Staten, Henry
    1984Wittgenstein and Derrida. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Stewart, Felicia R.
    2011 “Exploring Afrocentricity: An Analysis of the Discourse of Barack Obama.” Journal of African American Studies15 (3): 269–278. doi: 10.1007/s12111‑011‑9161‑6
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-011-9161-6 [Google Scholar]
  28. Sweet, Derek , and Margaret McCue-Enser
    2010 “Constituting “the People” as Rhetorical Interruption: Barack Obama and the Unfinished Hopes of an Imperfect People.” Communication Studies61 (5): 602–622. doi: 10.1080/10510974.2010.514679
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2010.514679 [Google Scholar]
  29. Teasley, Martell
    2010 “Barack Obama and the Politics of Race: The Myth of Postracism in America.” Journal of Black Studies40 (3): 411–425. doi: 10.1177/0021934709352991
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934709352991 [Google Scholar]
  30. Temple, Christel
    2010 “Communicating Race and Culture in the Twenty-First Century: Discourse and the Post-Racial/Post-Cultural Challenge.” Journal of Multicultural Discourses5 (1): 45–63. doi: 10.1080/17447141003602288
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17447141003602288 [Google Scholar]
  31. Van Efferink, Leonhardt
    2012 “Polar Partners or Poles Apart? On the Discourses of Two US Think Tanks on Russia’s Presence in the “High North”.” The Geographical Journal178 (1): 3–8. doi: 10.1111/j.1475‑4959.2011.00433.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00433.x [Google Scholar]
  32. Venckutė, Evelina
    2012 “The Idea of a US–Russian ‘Reset’ in the Rhetoric of Political Leaders.” Lithuanian Foreign Policy Review28.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Walters, Ron
    2007 “Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness.” Journal of Black Studies38 (1): 7–29. doi: 10.1177/0021934707305214
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934707305214 [Google Scholar]
  34. 2009a, Feb.9. “Press Conference by the President.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/press-conference-president.
  35. 2009b, Apr.1. “Joint Statement by President Dmitriy Medvedev of the Russian Federation and President Barack Obama of the United States of America.” www.cbsnews.com/news/text-statement-from-obama-medvedev/.
  36. 2009c, Apr.5. “Remarks by President Barack Obama (at Hradcany Square in Prague, Czech Republic).” www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Barack-Obama-In-Prague-As-Delivered.
  37. 2009d, May19. “Remarks by the President After Meeting with Former Secretary of State George Schultz, Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Former Senator and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn and Former Secretary of Defense William Perry to Discuss Key Priorities in U.S. Non-Proliferation Policy.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-after-meeting-with-shultz-kissinger-nunn-and-perry-discuss-key-pr.
  38. 2009e, May25. “Remarks by the President on North Korea.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-north-korea.
  39. 2009f, July6. “Press Conference by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/press-conference-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia.
  40. 2009g, Sept.25. “Remarks by President Obama at G20 Closing Press Conference.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-g20-closing-press-conference.
  41. 2009h, Sept.29. “Remarks by President Obama and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen After Meeting.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-nato-secretary-general-anders-fogh-rasmussen-after-meet.
  42. 2010, Nov.20. “Press Conference of the President After NATO Summit.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/20/press-conference-president-after-nato-summit.
  43. 2011, May28. “Remarks by President Obama and President Komorowski of Poland After Bilateral Meeting in Warsaw, Poland.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/05/28/president-obama-s-bilateral-meeting-president-komorowski-poland#transcript.
/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.15.6.05bel
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error