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

<italic>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." </italic>

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Osborn, Martin T.

• diplomacy

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37268

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/37268