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Communication Dissertations

Globalization

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Transnational Presidential Rhetoric And The Global Imaginary: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, And Barack Obama, Zoe Carney May 2017

Transnational Presidential Rhetoric And The Global Imaginary: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, And Barack Obama, Zoe Carney

Communication Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes moments in which presidents interact with transnational audiences, identifying and explaining their rhetorical strategies for developing a global imaginary. Specifically, I first consider how George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiate geo-political and spatial metaphors leading up to their joint press conference, symbolically ending the Cold War. Second, I discuss how Bill Clinton and George W. Bush universalize the trope of “democracy” in their speeches before the United Nations General Assembly. Third, I explain how Barack Obama figures transnational citizens and himself as a global leader in his transnational town hall meetings. Together, these case studies show …


Foreign Policy Rhetoric For The Post-Cold War World: Bill Clinton And America's Foreign Policy Vocabulary, Jason Allen Edwards Jun 2006

Foreign Policy Rhetoric For The Post-Cold War World: Bill Clinton And America's Foreign Policy Vocabulary, Jason Allen Edwards

Communication Dissertations

This project examines the foreign policy rhetoric of Bill Clinton in the post-Cold War world. My reading of Clinton’s rhetoric reveals that a change/order binary underwrote his oratory. Clinton defined change as being the underlying guidepost of the post-Cold War international setting. Order was defined through how he could guide, shape, direct, and manage American foreign policy in a sea of change, represented through his use of what I call America’s foreign policy vocabulary. This lexicon is based on three rhetorical components—the definitions of America’s role in the world, identification of the enemies we face, and the grand strategy we …