The American Rhetorical Construction of the Iranian Nuclear Threat

From 2002 to 2008, the Bush administration argued that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, despite years of inconclusive International Atomic Energy Agency inspection reports. In the absence of substantive evidence, much of the debate was conducted via public forums with a heavy persuasive element to the discourse. This book offers an in-depth consideration of the rhetoric surrounding Irans controversial nuclear programme. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining speeches, interviews, news reports, online message boards and newspaper layouts during the Bush Presidency (2000-2008). Engaging with visual grammar and narrative, the book looks at layouts from the Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post, amongst others. The book points out, using rhetorical theory and discourse analysis, the conditions that lent credibility to the Bush administrations position by examining the arguments Bush and his political surrogates put forward, and the discourse strategies that influenced which ideas gained salience and which were downplayed. Political communication and Foucaults theory of governmentality are brought in to articulate the implications regarding the influence, importance and expansion of executive power.

Autorentext

Jason Jones is a recent doctoral graduate from the University of Washington, USA.

Inhalt

Preface \ 1. Introduction: Executive power, the Press and Iran \ 2. The United States versus Iran: Using Statis Theory to Examine a Tale of Two Definitions \ 3. Controlling the Discourse: Interviews with the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice \ 4. A Verbal Tug-of-War with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad \ 5. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate: A Failed Rhetoric of Resistance \ 6. Before World War III: Discourse Studies and Social Change \ Bibliography \ Appendix: Excerpts from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Interviews \ Index