The Imperial Strategy Of The "war On Terrorism": U.s. Nonpartisan Political Discourse Toward The Middle East
Abstract
ABSTRACT
THE IMPERIAL STRATEGY OF THE “WAR ON TERRORISM”:
U.S. NONPARTISAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE TOWARD THE MIDDLE EAST
by
FATIMA A. IBRAHIM
July 2018
Advisor: Professor Patricia McCormick
Major: Communication Studies
Degree: Masters of Arts
This study analyzes the concept of terrorism. It provides a socio-political and historical context to examine U.S. imperial ambitions and the consecutive declarations of the “war on terrorism” as the core strategy of U.S. national security and foreign policy towards the Middle East. This study provides a critical discourse analysis intertwined with traditional-imperial ideologies of Said’s Orientalism, exceptionalism, and Hofstadter’s “paranoid style” in American politics, to examine the ways in which these ideologies are reinforced in the form of discursive practices in the post-9/11 presidential primary debates of 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. The study explores how both Republican and Democratic candidates communicate similar yet rhetorically distinct messages to incite a culture of fear and exaggerate threats to America’s democratic values and security. Both parties espouse the same position in justifying the “war on terrorism” in the Middle East, which makes the U.S. a one party state in this respect.
Keywords: critical discourse analysis (CDA), 9/11 terrorist attacks, terrorism, “war on terrorism,” United States, Middle East