The language of neofeudal corporatism and the war on Iraq
-
Philip Graham
Abstract
Beginning from recent critical work on globalisation, many critical scholars have extended the analytic vocabulary of ‘advanced’, ‘fast’ and ‘postmodern’ capitalism to explain the geopolitics of the Iraq War. This article offers a counterclaim: that current geopolitical economy can be more usefully characterised as a form of neofeudal corporatism. Using examples drawn from a 300,000 word corpus of public utterances by three political leaders — George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard — we identify and explicate defining characteristics of this system and how they are manifest in political language about the invasion of Iraq.
Abstract
Beginning from recent critical work on globalisation, many critical scholars have extended the analytic vocabulary of ‘advanced’, ‘fast’ and ‘postmodern’ capitalism to explain the geopolitics of the Iraq War. This article offers a counterclaim: that current geopolitical economy can be more usefully characterised as a form of neofeudal corporatism. Using examples drawn from a 300,000 word corpus of public utterances by three political leaders — George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard — we identify and explicate defining characteristics of this system and how they are manifest in political language about the invasion of Iraq.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the Authors vii
- Introduction: The soft power of war 1
- The language of neofeudal corporatism and the war on Iraq 11
- Blair’s contribution to elaborating a new ‘doctrine of international community’ 39
- War rhetoric of a little ally 61
- The Iraq war as curricular knowledge 85
- Computer games as political discourse 109
- Spectacular ethics 129
- Index 145
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the Authors vii
- Introduction: The soft power of war 1
- The language of neofeudal corporatism and the war on Iraq 11
- Blair’s contribution to elaborating a new ‘doctrine of international community’ 39
- War rhetoric of a little ally 61
- The Iraq war as curricular knowledge 85
- Computer games as political discourse 109
- Spectacular ethics 129
- Index 145
