This thesis examines the role of war metaphors in the political discourse of extreme right political figures: Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy and how they shape the extreme right ideology of the...Show moreThis thesis examines the role of war metaphors in the political discourse of extreme right political figures: Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy and how they shape the extreme right ideology of the Make America Great Again Movement (MAGA). War metaphors are rhetorical devices used in everyday language to communicate abstract ideas using more broadly understood domains like war and promote societal salience. The analysis of militarism in society and politics is foundational to the Critical Military Studies discipline, however, there has been little engagement with the study of war metaphors and their influence on polarisation in democracies, which this thesis aims to address. The thesis performs a Critical Metaphor Analysis, which integrates the disciplines of Conceptual Metaphor Theory with Critical Discourse Analysis. The analysis of discourse considers a 3-month collection of tweets since 1 January 2024 to examine war metaphors in informal political discourse in the months nearing United States presidential elections. The analysis finds the employment of war metaphors to primarily manifest in three ways: language of attack, language of defence, and adoption of militarism and patriotism. These forms of war metaphors depart from the traditional use of war metaphors to motivate the acceptance of violence and promote a climate of affective polarisation. The prominence of war metaphors in MAGA discourse is observed to promote the acceptance of authoritarian politics and mobilise violent action, which all serves to erode democracy in an established liberal democracy like the United States.Show less
This thesis project explores the complex interplay between memory politics, and dark tourism through a detailed analysis of websites advertising battlefield tours in Normandy, France. This study...Show moreThis thesis project explores the complex interplay between memory politics, and dark tourism through a detailed analysis of websites advertising battlefield tours in Normandy, France. This study aims to understand how these websites shape public memory and historical understanding of D-Day and subsequent events. The research is situated within the theoretical frameworks of Critical Military Studies (CMS), dark tourism, and Mälksoo’s (2023) politics of memory, examining how collective memory is influenced by political processes and power dynamics. To achieve this, the study employs a multi-method approach on three well-known websites overlordtour.com, normandybattlefields.com, and battlefieldtours.nu, analyzing their textual and visual content through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). This analysis is enriched by placing the data within its broader socio-cultural and historical contexts, considering both the era of World War II and contemporary digital culture. This study reveals how these websites construct historical events, by emphasizing certain narratives of heroism, sacrifice, and liberation while marginalizing others. It also shows how these websites represent their Western identities and the identities of their audiences, how they commemorate and memorialize D-Day, and the extent to which commercial interests influence their presentation of historical sites. In sum, the research underscores the power dynamics embedded in the discourse of battlefield tour websites, revealing how specific national identities and affiliations influence the historical portrayal of D-Day.Show less
