scholarly journals Technologization of Discourse: Technologization of American Foreign Policy Discourse in the Middle East in President Donald Trump’s Selected Speeches

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Yaseen T. Aysar ◽  
Perry A. Lucy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Tel Aviv ◽  
Eastern Cultures ◽  
Middle East Politics ◽  
Almost All

Discourse of the powerful is normally characterised as hegemonic since it lacks, whether consciously or unconsciously, familiarity of historical events and intrinsic knowledge of culture. President Trump’s disregard for or over-simplification of the complexities of Middle Eastern cultures in particular, their history, politics, and political geography, his belligerent and rapacious entrepreneurial rhetoric, his authoritarian stance on many global issues combined with the superficial allure of his ‘common man’ persona, and his hegemonising of many of the world’s nations make him the antithesis of the conventional politician. The process of technologization of Donald Trump’s discourse that has been influencing the discursive practices surrounding Middle East politics and American foreign policy has given rise to a type of discourse that is unprecedented in modern time American presidencies, a discourse rooted in threat, disregard, and humiliation. Trump’s disrespect to heads of states entails disrespect of their people, history, and culture, and this is prevalent in almost all his speeches. This paper focuses primarily on Trump’s rhetorical styles in his 28th September 2018 address to the UN, the May 14th 2018 address on the U.S. Embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and finally the April 13th 2018 address on the Syrian airstrikes.

Toward a Semiotics of Middle Eastern Cultures

1980 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Complementary Method ◽  
Sign Systems ◽  
The People ◽  
Symbolic Life ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Eastern Cultures ◽  
Semiotic Theory

There exists a growing body of literature which either explicitly or implicitly utilizes semiotic theory to discuss various sign systems in the Middle East. I believe that by exploring these works and linking them to similar studies, we can acquire a fresh perspective on the symbolic life of the people of the Middle East. I do not argue that semiotics can or should replace other paradigmatic approaches to out analysis of culture, but rather that semiotics can serve as a complementary method for interpreting sign systems.

scholarly journals La complexité de valeurs dans la politique étrangère de l'administration Reagan face à l'Iran

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-551
Author(s):  
André Lecours
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
A Value ◽  
Complexity Problem

The formulation of a policy that will satisfy several values and interests more or less compatible is a classic problem of political decision making. This phenomenon by which there can be, in a foreign policy issue for example, several divergent values and interests was named value-complexity by Alexander George. When facing a value complexity problem, a decision maker must choose some values and some interests over others. The choice he makes will not necessarily be the one made by other decision makers. This can result in a serious impediment to the decision making process. The American foreign policy towards the Middle East faced, for the major part of the Cold War era, a value-complexity problem because it looked to reconcile four hard-to reconcile values and interests. The Reagan government was confronted rather acutely with this problem in the making of its Iranian policies. The administration was split in at least two factions over Iran : one who thought primarily of containing the Soviet Union in the Middle East region and the other for whom the political stability of moderate regimes threatened by revolutionnary Iran should be the most important priority. The existence of these factions, consequence of value-complexity, produced the making and the implementation of two distinct Iranian policies.

Onward Christian Soldiers: American Dispensationalists, George W. Bush and the Middle East

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilay Saiya
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Conservative Christians

The goal of this paper is twofold. First, it attempts to explain why dispensationalist Christians were successful at influencing American foreign policy during the administration of George W. Bush, particularly towards the Middle East. Specifically, I connect this success to their ties to Washington neo-conservatives, the personal faith of Bush himself and his links to conservative Christians, and their broad cultural appeal and grassroots strength. Second, it will present two brief case studies on the influence that dispensationalism has had on US policy towards Israel and Iraq during the administration of George W. Bush.

scholarly journals Trump, Russia, and China: The First 100 Days

2017 ◽  
pp. 116-122
Author(s):  
M. Share
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future

On April 30 the United States and the World marked the 100th day in office of Donald Trump as President of the United States. The first 100 days are considered as a key indicator of the fortunes for a new President’s program. This article briefly reviews the 2016 campaign and election, the 11 week transition period, his first 100 days, a brief examination of both American-Russian relations and Sino-American relations, and lastly, what the future bodes for each under a Trump Presidency. The 100 Day period has been chaotic, shifting, and at times incoherent. He has made 180 degree shifts toward many major issues, including Russia and China, which has only confused numerous world leaders, including Presidents Putin and Xi. There has been a definite disconnection between what Trump says about Russia, and what his advisors and cabinet officials say. So far Trump has conducted a highly personalized and transactional foreign policy. All is up for negotiation at this a huge turning point in American foreign policy, the greatest one since 1945. Given all the world’s instabilities today, a rapprochement between the United States and Russia is a truly worthwhile objective, and should be strongly pursued.

Middle East Dilemma: Pakistan’s Role as Mediator for Conflict Resolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Zikriya ◽  
Naushad Khan ◽  
Asif Salim
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
East Region ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Middle East Region

The development of International relations together with forces like globalization and technology has brought the world closer to each other. Friendly ties and relations with states create massive challenges during times of conflict. The focus of the paper is on the crisis evolving in the Middle East region and the role of Pakistan in solving those crisis considering relations with its closest allies, political and financial circumstances, and its foreign policy principles. A qualitative research approach with desk analysis technique has been applied to analyse the role of Pakistan as a mediator for the conflict resolution among Middle Eastern countries. The research highlights how the disputes created great problems for Pakistan but it is still striving to resolve conflicts among Middle Eastern countries because maintaining peace and prosperity in the Muslim world has always been a top priority of Pakistan’s foreign policy.

American Grand Strategy and Political Economy Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Narizny
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Defense Spending ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
International Economy ◽  
Rust Belt ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
American Grand Strategy

Nearly everything a state does has distributional consequences, including grand strategy. Societal groups with different stakes in the international economy and defense spending often have conflicting strategic priorities, and these groups pursue their parochial interests by supporting the nomination and election of like-minded politicians. Thus, grand strategy is a product of political economy. An overview of American foreign policy over the last several decades illustrates this logic. In the 1980s, the Democratic and Republican coalitions had conflicting interests over the international economy, so the two parties diverged on grand strategy. The recovery of the Rust Belt in the 1990s and 2000s, however, brought increasing convergence. Political discourse over foreign policy was fiercely partisan, but, with the notable exception of George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, the two parties shared essentially the same view of America’s role in the world. The disastrous outcome in Iraq led the Bush administration back to the middle ground in its second term, and Obama followed the same course. In contrast, the election of Donald Trump augurs change. Trump’s electoral coalition consists of a different balance of interests in the international economy than that of past Republican presidents, so he is likely to pursue different strategic priorities.

scholarly journals Trump, Populism, and American Foreign Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorsten Wojczewski
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Lacanian Psychoanalysis ◽  
Self And Other

Abstract Employing a discursive understanding of populism and combing it with insights of poststructuralist international relations theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis, this article examines the conceptual links between foreign policy and populist forms of identity construction, as well as the ideological force that populism can unfold in the realm of foreign policy. It conceptualizes populism and foreign policy as distinct discourses that constitute collective identities by relating Self and Other. Identifying different modes of Othering, the article illustrates its arguments with a case study on the United States under Donald Trump and shows how the Trumpian discourse has used foreign policy as a platform for the (re)production of a populist-nationalist electoral coalition. Unlike common conceptions of populism as an ideology that misrepresents reality, the article argues that the discourse develops its ideological appeal by obscuring the discursive construction of social reality and thereby promising to satisfy the subject's desire for a complete and secure identity.

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