This article employs critical intertextual analysis (CIA) to examine how American presidents from opposing political parties respectively inaugurated and extended the war in Afghanistan. After explaining the CIA framework, I investigate two post-9/11 “call-to-arms” speeches delivered by George W. Bush and Barack Obama. I find that Obama responds to changing circumstances (e.g. public dissatisfaction) by varying stylistic elements of Bush’s rhetoric. Nevertheless, he rearticulates the overarching features of Bush’s “war on terror” discourse. Thus, Obama ultimately achieves policy continuity, but only by employing micro-rhetorical strategies that create the appearance of change. I conclude that, if Obama had been more enterprising, he might have enacted real change – and broken completely with Bush’s rhetoric and policy of global war.
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Trenta, Luca
2018. The Obama administration’s conceptual change: Imminence and the legitimation of targeted killings. European Journal of International Security 3:1 ► pp. 69 ff.
Hatton, Arthur T. & Michael E. Nielsen
2016. ‘War on Terror’ in our backyard: effects of framing and violent ISIS propaganda on anti-Muslim prejudice. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 8:3 ► pp. 163 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
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