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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 16:5 (2017) ► pp.706–730

Discursive double-legitimation of (avoiding) another war in Obama’s 2013 address on Syria

| Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

This article explores legitimacy-building in United States President’s 2013 Address to the Nation on Syria. Based on a slightly modified version of Theo van Leeuwen’s (2008) model of the discursive construction of legitimation and with a view of the war in Syria as the super-macro context of the Address, the investigation illustrates how the speech attempts to legitimate the prospect of a direct American military engagement in Syria on the one hand, and to justify avoiding another war that may prove too costly, on the other. Through the illustration of such double-legitimation discursive practices, the study portrays how critical discourse studies can provide the ground for awareness of a delicate aspect of the discourse of politics and the rhetoric of politicians in shaping public consent and projecting an always-legitimate image of even contradictory political positions, decisions, and actions.

Keywords: critical discourse studies, discourse of politics, political discourse analysis, discursive construction of legitimation, political speeches, presidential speeches, Obama speeches, war rhetoric
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.‘Addressing’ the war in Syria
  • 3.Framework of investigation
  • 4.Double-legitimation of (avoiding) a war
    • 4.1Moralization
      • 4.1.1Labeling
      • 4.1.2Evaluation
      • 4.1.3Abstraction and Analogy
    • 4.2Rationalization
      • 4.2.1Explanation
      • 4.2.2Goal Orientation
      • 4.2.3Outcome Orientation
      • 4.2.4Prediction
      • 4.2.5Means Orientation
    • 4.3Authorization
      • 4.3.1Personal authority
      • 4.3.2Impersonal authority
      • 4.3.3Other categories of authority
    • 4.4Mythopoesis
    • 4.5Mixed categories
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 18 September 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.16016.mir
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