scholarly journals Irakkrigen og den historiske legitimering

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
Rosanna Farbøl
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
War In Iraq ◽  
Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Political use of history played a pivotal role in legitimizing the war in Iraq, and by taking a closer look at the use of history one can get closer to understanding the reasons for the decision to go to war. The first part of the article argues that former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Liberal and Conservative parties legitimized war participation by writing it into a particular interpretation of history. Many historians have criticized Fogh Rasmussen’s interpretation and his use of history to legitimize the purpose of going to war, and this raises the question: to whom does history belong? The second half of the article defends the view that Fogh Rasmussen had every right to use the history to promote his cause. This does not mean, however, that his use of history cannot be criticized by historians, who consider his interpretation of history misleading and biased.

scholarly journals Cosmopolitan Democratic and Communicative Rights: The Danish Cartoons Controversy and the Right to Be Heard, Even Across Borders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Brown ◽  
Sune Lægaard
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Theoretical Ground ◽  
Moral Criticism ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Anders Fogh Rasmussen ◽  
The Right ◽  
To Receive

Abstract During the Danish cartoons controversy in 2005–2006, a group of ambassadors to Denmark representing eleven predominantly Muslim countries requested a meeting with the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to protest against the cartoons. Rasmussen interpreted their viewpoint as one of demanding limits to freedom of speech and he ignored their request for a meeting. Drawing on this case study, the article argues that it is an appropriate, and potentially effective, moral criticism of anyone who is in a position of political power—taking into account reasonable constraints of feasibility and practicality—that they have refused to receive information, ideas, or opinions from individuals, or their representatives, with dissenting viewpoints. The article also articulates one possible theoretical ground for such a moral criticism: that they could be violating a fundamental (cosmopolitan) moral right of people to submit information, ideas, or opinions to those who wield power over them and to be meaningfully heard—a right which can span state borders.

Defending Ways of Life

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
International Community ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Moral Ambiguity ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
President Bush ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
At Home

This article explores the rhetorics of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair in the aftermath of 11th September. It takes their differing versions of masculinity as a starting-point. The speeches refer extensively to `ways of life', a concept also worth recovering theoretically. Anti-terrorism is a defence of ways of living which are without moral ambiguity and are in absolute opposition to terrorist `evil'. Bush constructs a hegemony at home as a basis for unilateral global interventions. His Americanism draws on familiar themes (`freedom', patriotism, religion), but also invokes compassion, pugnacity and sporting masculinities, drawn especially from the game of baseball. Blair's more `intellectual' version aims at the construction of an international `community' or coalition with Britain in a pivotal role. The contexts, strengths, vulnerabilities, and political and ethical limits of anti-terrorism are explored in detail, including some correspondence with Al-Qa'ida's fundamentalism.

The strange case of Dr Blair and Mr Bush: Counting their words to solve a mystery

English Today ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Saraceni
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Linguistic Terms ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
War In Iraq

THE ALLIANCE between US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the recent Second Gulf War has appeared anomalous to many, because they belong to ideologically very different political parties. Blair, in particular, has been accused of having betrayed some of the left-wing ideas that, historically, have characterised the Labour Party. This article seeks to understand the extent to which, at least in linguistic terms, the ideas of Blair and Bush may not be as alike as one might be tempted to believe. Two small corpora of interviews and speeches were collected over a period of some six weeks, all relating to the war in Iraq. Analysis of the corpora reveals some notable differences between Blair and Bush and also shows that certain important – and more hidden – elements of discourse escape this type of investigation and need closer scrutiny.

Setting the Stage

The Last Card ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 113-129
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
War In Iraq ◽  
Donald Rumsfeld ◽  
At Home

This chapter begins by looking at two trips to Iraq: the first by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the second by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Hadley's trip in November of 2006 was particularly crucial—it was meant to gauge prospects for a change in course, and to determine whether Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was a viable partner. Back in Washington, the Republican Party's loss of control of both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, along with Bush's eventual firing of Donald Rumsfeld, interacted with the growing intellectual ferment inside government and led Bush to launch and publicly announce a formal review of strategy in Iraq. Rumsfeld's replacement, Robert Gates, while named to the post in early November, would not formally take charge for another month. Time was now of the essence for the president. He was losing the war in Iraq, and, as Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, put it, “he was losing the war here at home.”

Can the Popular Disembody Populism? Students and the Re-appropriation of the Nationalist Floating Signifier in Contemporary Indian Politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 232102302199914
Author(s):  
Jean-Thomas Martelli
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
Campus Ecology ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
First Time

This ethnographic account chronicles the journey of one of the largest anti-government protests since India’s independence. It examines the pivotal role of students—initially activists and then first-time participants—in crystallizing challenges to the ruling dispensation, not only by opposing it directly, but through subverting its way of claiming representation. More specifically, it is the strategic reuse of the pervasive anti-institutional and anti-elite discourse at the top—while replacing its majoritarianism with inclusiveness—that enabled protesters to disembody the populist modality of the current Indian Prime Minister. Protesters’ short-lived success was achieved through an enactment of the popular, embodied in a diffused fashion by faceless, peaceful and feminized protesting masses. The popular successfully appropriated the claim to be the people through invoking a ‘derivative’ nationalist repertoire in part shared by the government, emptying its anti-minorities subtext through appropriating floating signifiers of patriotic belonging such as the Indian constitution, the flag and the anthem. By engaging on how relatively small communities of politicized students used the campus ecology and its neighbouring spaces as territorial and ideational nodal points for the mobilization of less politicized cohorts, the article underlines their significance in the political articulation of dissent in contemporary Indian democracy.

India will occupy pivotal role in China-West rivalry

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Opportunities ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Regional Influence

Subject India's regional diplomacy. Significance Increasing India's regional influence is a priority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Immediately following his election in May, Modi launched a series of initiatives in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, as well as Sri Lanka. In part, the aim is to expand business opportunities and create political will in the region for economic integration. Another motivation is to contain China's influence in India's immediate neighbourhood. Impacts Balancing growing cooperation and competition in India-China ties will be increasingly difficult for both sides. India's naval projection in the Indian Ocean is no match for China's. Sri Lanka's new government will not alienate China, but is likely to maintain some distance.

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