A Critical Study of Barack Obama’s Discourse on the Iranian Nuclear Issue in his Eight Years in Office

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Associate Professor of English Language Teaching, Al-Zahra University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Political discourse plays a crucial role in directing thoughts, and discursive functioning in politics may be placed next to major political, economic, and even military decisions. Therefore, this study attempts to explore some discursive aspects of the Iranian nuclear issue as a major concern related to Iran in the international arena and to investigate the discursive image portrayed in this regard by the American President Barack Obama during his two terms in office. A body of 377 speeches by Obama during 2009–2016 was studied based on Van Dijk’s perspectives on “critical discourse studies” through a mix of lexical search and multiple phases of qualitative coding. The outcome was a discursive image comprising seven major themes: the Iranian nuclear threat; America’s will to face this threat; preference for a peaceful solution; applying all options; universal agreement with America; encountering internal pressure; and the nuclear agreement as an important success. These themes illustrate a discursive plan underlying Obama’s speeches aimed at creating audience consent for American political, economic, and military decisions and actions. Critical awareness on the part of the audience regarding this kind of discursive images can create space for critical appraisal of discursive trends, and critical discourse studies can be employed to enhance this awareness.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Political Socology of Islamic World
Volume 8, Issue 17 - Serial Number 17
September 2020
Pages 279-304

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History

  • Receive Date: 28 April 2020
  • Revise Date: 07 May 2020
  • Accept Date: 04 August 2020

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