In this thesis, the American presidential discourse has been subjected to analysis to determine how the presidential discourse regarding terrorism has developed during the presidency of George W....Show moreIn this thesis, the American presidential discourse has been subjected to analysis to determine how the presidential discourse regarding terrorism has developed during the presidency of George W. Bush and the presidency of Barack Obama. To this end, literature has been reviewed that focused on establishing whether a discursive transformation had occurred between both presidencies. In this review, the theory of Foucault regarding discursive transformation appeared to reoccur. Thus, in the following chapter the theory of Foucault regarding discourse was discussed. Based on this theory, it was established that to analyze the presidential discourse, predicates in presidential speeches would be analyzed. The ensuing analytical chapters, consequently, focused on the reproduction of the concept terrorism through analyzing statements regarding the cause, aim and actors of terrorism and through relating these statement to statements regarding foreign policy during the presidency of George W. Bush and the presidency of Barack Obama and on comparing and contrasting the reproduction of the concept terrorism during both presidencies. Overall, the analysis appeared to indicate that while linguistically the style of the presidents varied while discussing the concept terrorism, the discursively constructed message did not change.Show less
This thesis examines the persuasive differences between U.S. President Barack Obama’s war speech on ISIL (2014) and former President George W. Bush’s war speech on Iraq (2003). Obama and Bush Jr....Show moreThis thesis examines the persuasive differences between U.S. President Barack Obama’s war speech on ISIL (2014) and former President George W. Bush’s war speech on Iraq (2003). Obama and Bush Jr. both made use of various language strategies to influence the audience’s perception of their speech. Because Obama needed to gain much more public approval in 2014 than Bush Jr. did in 2003, it is expected that Obama’s speech contains much more persuasive strategies than Bush Jr.’s speech. The stylistic and linguistic analysis in this thesis, however, show that this is not the case. Obama does not make more use of persuasive strategies than Bush Jr. does, but focuses on different strategies instead.Show less
