Post-Structuralism, Discourse
Analysis and Foreign Policy
January 21, 2013
Overview
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Post-structuralism
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Discourse analysis in foreign policy
Post-structuralism
Reflective theory
 Focus on the use of language
 Less concerned about the “truth” of a
statement than the values and interests
reflected and supported in a the
statement

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An example of use of language:
Maritimers are friendly
Post-structuralism
Language as power
 Strong empirical focus
 Builds a lot from realism, but also critical
of its positivist stance and efforts to
universalize
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Post-structuralism & realism

Draws on but also challenges aspects of
the three core assumptions of realism:
 Groupism
 Egoism
 Power-centrism
Post-structuralism - Groupism
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State stands at the core of modern political
life, but argue need to understand this in
historical context
Inside-outside distinction: Social contract is
present inside the state, unlike between
states
So tendency to see domestic politics as
distinct from international politics
Groupism
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However, this assumption is only there because
it is sustained through practices.
Historically, there are different forms of foreign
policy, thus realism’s groupism assumption
must be historicized.
Domestic and international are defined as the
radical opposite of each other.
 This distinction puts difference outside the
state - what is out there is different from what
it is inside the state
Egoism

Politics an foreign policy are driven by interests
but those interests are “discursive”.

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Don’t come with our interests already established,
they are developed and articulated through our
interactions and language
Dichotomies like self-interest/altruism &
rational/irrational are used in ways to structure
our ability to think about foreign policy as the
inside-outside distinction does.

Dichotomies are dependent on each other
helping define one against the other, and
often one as superior to the other
 Rational - irrational
 Foreign - domestic
 Us -them

Identity as constituted through foreign
policy
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So foreign policy tells about how we see
ourselves in relation to others
Leads to the idea of ‘otherness’ and how
it is created in relation to ‘our’ identity.
Implications of difference
Why would seeing another group as
different, or “the other” matter to foreign
policy?
 How might seeing that difference impact
our policy decisions or our interpretations
of their actions?

Power
Power – from capability to discourse
 Language as power because it is
through discourse that subjects,
objects, actors and identities are being
constituted
 Power to marginalize the discourse of
others
• How might language be used marginalize
the discourse of others?

Language as key to legitimizing foreign
policy
 Helps make foreign policy appear
necessary and realistic to relevant
audience
Discourse analysis
The politics of representation:
The language of foreign policy helps
generate meaning of the ‘problem’ that
policies are aimed at solving (e.g. head
of state, countries, wars, populations).
 Discourse analysis asks not whether a
representation is true or false, but what
the political implications of adopting a
particular representation are.

The case of Saddam Hussein
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“We are now acting because the risks of
inaction would be far greater. In one year, or
five years, the power of Iraq to inflict harm on all
free nations would be multiplied many times
over. With these capabilities, Saddam Hussein
and his terrorist allies could choose the moment
of deadly conflict when they are strongest. We
choose to meet that threat now, where it arises,
before it can appear suddenly in our skies and
cities.” - George W. Bush

“If Saddam Hussein attempts to cling to power,
he will remain a deadly foe until the end. In
desperation, he and terrorists groups might try
to conduct terrorist operations against the
American people and our friends. These attacks
are not inevitable. They are, however, possible.
And this very fact underscores the reason we
cannot live under the threat of blackmail. The
terrorist threat to America and the world will be
diminished the moment that Saddam Hussein is
disarmed.” - George W. Bush
The scope and stability of
foreign policy:
Beside official foreign policies, discourse
analysts study political parties not in
government, the media, NGO’s and
others who engage in foreign policy
debates.
 This way one gets an understanding of
the positions that official foreign policy
has to fight off or accommodate.
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Canada and Afghanistan
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“However, what we face is the Taliban still
working to generate doubt and fear. They would
like nothing better than Canada and other NATO
countries to withdraw from Afghanistan. They
know that the Canadian court of public opinion
had tremendous influence. They are aware of
our domestic discussion on this issue and they
will try to exploit our debate for military gain.
They can’t beat us on the battlefield. That is the
only way this cunning adversary can win.” Peter MacKay, 2007
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The question of how stable a foreign policy
discourse is can also be approached by
looking more critically, or deconstructively, at
the stability of official texts.
Stability as the “fit” between the policy
advocated and its representation
Instability can create flexibility to adjust
policies in the future
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Textual instability – the case of NATO and
Operation Unified Protector
Change and genealogy
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What we consider foreign policy changes
over time, and the policy on a given issue
often shifts from appearance on the
agenda of decision makers
Through pressure at the level of the
discourse itself - e.g. the war is too costly
 Through changes in the foreign policy ‘issue’
itself- e.g. collapse of USSR
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A genealogy starts from the present and asks
how what we ‘know’ now has become ‘the’
understanding of history, and what has been
excluded or marginalized by current
representations.
One more example
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“Canadians understand that development and
security go hand in hand. Without security,
there can be no humanitarian aid, no
reconstruction and democratic development.
Progress will be slow, but our efforts are
bearing fruit…Like the North Star, Canada has
been a guide to other nations; through difficult
times, Canada has shone as an example of
what people joined in a common purpose can
achieve.”- Stephen Harper, 2007
Conclusion
Power of language
 Focus on analyzing foreign policies and
their contexts in detail
 Less concerned about the “truth” of
statements or representation and more
interested in the interests and values in
those representation and the implications
from them.
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