War rhetoric of a little ally
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Teun A. van Dijk
Abstract
In this paper we examine some of the properties of the speeches by former Prime Minister José María Aznar held in Spanish parliament in 2003 legitimating his support of the USA and the threatening war against Iraq. The theoretical framework for the analysis is a multidisciplinary CDA approach relating discursive, cognitive and sociopolitical aspects of parliamentary debates. It is argued that speeches in parliament should not only be defined in terms of their textual properties, but also in terms of a contextual analysis. Besides an analysis of the usual properties of ideological and political discourse, such as positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation and other rhetoric devices, special attention is paid to political implicatures defined as inferences based on general and particular political knowledge as well as on the context models of Aznar’s speeches.
Abstract
In this paper we examine some of the properties of the speeches by former Prime Minister José María Aznar held in Spanish parliament in 2003 legitimating his support of the USA and the threatening war against Iraq. The theoretical framework for the analysis is a multidisciplinary CDA approach relating discursive, cognitive and sociopolitical aspects of parliamentary debates. It is argued that speeches in parliament should not only be defined in terms of their textual properties, but also in terms of a contextual analysis. Besides an analysis of the usual properties of ideological and political discourse, such as positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation and other rhetoric devices, special attention is paid to political implicatures defined as inferences based on general and particular political knowledge as well as on the context models of Aznar’s speeches.
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
