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The Concept of Freedom in the Context of the War on Terror: A Comparative Study of the European Union and the United States Rhetoric

Dib, Laura (2007)
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Language is a powerful tool in the creation of social identities. This work analyses the security policy discourses of two major actors in world politics: the European Union and the United States. The material is composed of security documents of both actors ranging from the time before the 9/11 terrorist attacks to present day. Discourse analysis, especially its Foucauldian strand emphasising the structural power of language, is used to analyse the material. The work places its main focus on the analysis of the term freedom; its occurrence, significance and evolution in the security policy discourse. The contemporary security discourse of the U.S. emerges from the politico-ideological frames of liberalism and neo-liberalism. In the EU,... (More)
Language is a powerful tool in the creation of social identities. This work analyses the security policy discourses of two major actors in world politics: the European Union and the United States. The material is composed of security documents of both actors ranging from the time before the 9/11 terrorist attacks to present day. Discourse analysis, especially its Foucauldian strand emphasising the structural power of language, is used to analyse the material. The work places its main focus on the analysis of the term freedom; its occurrence, significance and evolution in the security policy discourse. The contemporary security discourse of the U.S. emerges from the politico-ideological frames of liberalism and neo-liberalism. In the EU, freedom has traditionally been understood as the freedom of movement. Since the beginning of the War on Terror in 2001, the EU and the U.S. have used an increasingly offensive language in their security rhetoric. The discourses of both actors converge over the period of study and rely increasingly on the self / other opposition whereby freedom is conceptually opposed to terrorism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Dib, Laura
supervisor
organization
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
European Union, United States, Security Policy, Freedom, Discourse Analysis, Political and administrative sciences, Statsvetenskap, förvaltningskunskap
language
English
id
1320968
date added to LUP
2007-06-12 00:00:00
date last changed
2007-06-12 00:00:00
@misc{1320968,
  abstract     = {{Language is a powerful tool in the creation of social identities. This work analyses the security policy discourses of two major actors in world politics: the European Union and the United States. The material is composed of security documents of both actors ranging from the time before the 9/11 terrorist attacks to present day. Discourse analysis, especially its Foucauldian strand emphasising the structural power of language, is used to analyse the material. The work places its main focus on the analysis of the term freedom; its occurrence, significance and evolution in the security policy discourse. The contemporary security discourse of the U.S. emerges from the politico-ideological frames of liberalism and neo-liberalism. In the EU, freedom has traditionally been understood as the freedom of movement. Since the beginning of the War on Terror in 2001, the EU and the U.S. have used an increasingly offensive language in their security rhetoric. The discourses of both actors converge over the period of study and rely increasingly on the self / other opposition whereby freedom is conceptually opposed to terrorism.}},
  author       = {{Dib, Laura}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Concept of Freedom in the Context of the War on Terror: A Comparative Study of the European Union and the United States Rhetoric}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}