Item Details

abstract

In January 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confidentially sent a diplomatic cable to the international community. In it, she sought "to secure the cooperation of" concerned recipients with America's strategy for dissuading Iran from developing nuclear weapons. This thesis implements the Performative Traditions approach while retrieving the political and historical dynamics which best contextualize Clinton's effort. Given former president George W. Bush's tragic misconstruction of the Iraq WMD threat, and the subsequently restrictive expectations of American foreign policy, Clinton summons a number of the traditional rhetorical devices associated with Woodrow Wilson's notion of collective security; although her cable appears simple, almost neutral, she employs an idiom of internationalism, dually voiced from objective and leadership perspectives, within a temporal structure which preserves strategic flexibility while naturalizing U.S. hegemony. The risks commonly associated with the spread of nuclear weapons and pressing questions about America's increasingly sketch reputation bestow importance on this particular address, suggesting its preeminence among those American diplomatic communications which were "wiki-leaked."

subject

diplomacy

Hillary Clinton

Iran

nuclear proliferation

performative traditions

rhetorical tradition

contributor

Osborn, Martin T. (author)

Atchison, Robert J (committee chair)

Hyde, Michael J (committee member)

Louden, Allan (committee member)

date

2012-06-12T08:35:52Z (accessioned)

2014-06-12T08:30:08Z (available)

2012 (issued)

degree

Communication (discipline)

embargo

2014-06-12 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37268 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

HILLARY CLINTON MOBILIZES INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE AGAINST IRAN WITH THE TRADITIONAL RHETORIC OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY

type

Thesis