Thesis-2009-Tzogopoulos.pdf (10.83 MB)
Framing the neocons : European media representations of US foreign policy making
thesis
posted on 2013-04-22, 12:58 authored by George TzogopoulosThere is a lively academic debate concerning US foreign policy in the post-Cold War
era and especially after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Neoconservatism
has become a cause celebre in the literature of international relations with a variety of
scholars disagreeing as to its supposed impact on Washington's world affairs
approach and the Bush administration's decision to remove Saddam Hussein, from
power manu militari. This thesis is an analysis of the way this political ideology was
interpreted in the European elite media. It will be demonstrated how a significant
section of key opinion-forming newspapers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy
framed neoconservatism during the administration of Bill Clinton and partly that of
George W. Bush. There will be an exploration of whether and how newspapers vary
in their coverage.
The thesis will outline that the influence of the neoconservatives in US foreign
policy can be disputed and will suggest that their ideas can be hardly considered as
revolutionary ones. It will then focus on the media coverage and will show that the
prominence devoted to neoconservatism by the accessed print sources is a relatively
recent phenomenon. The findings indicate that the newspapers differed in their
representation of the political ideology only in the period before 9/11 when they
mainly discussed it in the context of domestic affairs. By contrast, after the terrorist
atrocities and especially since 2003 they linked neoconservatism to US foreign policy
and largely focused on it - as opposed to competing international relations theories -,
representing it in a remarkably similar way. With the exception of The Times, which
followed a comparatively balanced approach, they constructed it as a driving force
behind George W. Bush's international politics approach and the war on Iraq. The
media emphasis on neoconservatism will be attributed to different factors - such the
scapegoat theory - which maybe influenced the journalistic work. The general
consensus as to their understanding of neoconservatism and its supposed impact will
not support the claim of a European public sphere but will be considered as a positive
step towards its possible creation.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies
Publisher
© George TzogopoulosPublication date
2009Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.510328Language
- en