Språk som maktutövningsmedel En studie om försök att rättfärdiga Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Iraqi FreedomFigurative LanguageWar on TerrorSocial sciencesSamhällsvetenskaperPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapSocial SciencesLaw and Political Science
The purpose of this study is to investigate the way George W. Bush used the language as a means to exercise power in an attempt to justify Operation Iraqi Freedom. The theories used to answer the purpose are discourse analysis and three different moral metaphors that are applied on the data.The collected material for the metaphors is constituted of cognitive linguistic books from prominent linguists, such as George Lakoff, Alan Cruse and William Croft, and the material for the discourse analysis is also collected from prominent discourse analysts such as Michél Foucault and Norman Fairclough. The official White House website provides the material for my data. The scientific method used in this study has been qualitative text analysis where the hermeneutic approach has been an essential part of it.The main question: In what way did George W. Bush use the language as a means to exercise power in an attempt to justify Operation Iraqi Freedom?, resulted in use of moral metaphors in order to intensify the language and create an image of reality. In this sense, the power exercised is non-decision making power.