Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, a vast discourse on contemporary terrorism has emerged within 'Western' media. This thesis analyzes the discourse of contemporary terrorism, and highlights how the postcolonialist critique of Orientalism pioneered by Edward Said is still relevant within the discourse. This is accomplished by analyzing books that have been published post-9/11 and which have been reviewed in the journal Foreign Affairs. A primary goal of this thesis is to facilitate the de-reification of the socially constructed concepts of both 'the East' and 'the West' which currently dominate representations within the discourse, as well as to highlight some of the key features of the discursive field on contemporary terrorism. The binary representation and stereotyping within the contemporary discourse provides a one-dimensional representation of the issue of terrorism, and by questioning the conformity of these representations we can critically examine one of the most important social issues within our society.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, a vast discourse on contemporary terrorism has emerged within 'Western' media. This thesis analyzes the discourse of contemporary terrorism, and highlights how the postcolonialist critique of Orientalism pioneered by Edward Said is still relevant within the discourse. This is accomplished by analyzing books that have been published post-9/11 and which have been reviewed in the journal Foreign Affairs. A primary goal of this thesis is to facilitate the de-reification of the socially constructed concepts of both 'the East' and 'the West' which currently dominate representations within the discourse, as well as to highlight some of the key features of the discursive field on contemporary terrorism. The binary representation and stereotyping within the contemporary discourse provides a one-dimensional representation of the issue of terrorism, and by questioning the conformity of these representations we can critically examine one of the most important social issues within our society.

This thesis mobilizes a feminist critique to examine the ways in which New Public Management (NPM) represents a gendered discourse. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, NPM is mapped as a discursive field in order to tease out its dominant and subordinate discourses. The tensions between the dominant discourses and between the dominant and subordinate discourses are examined. The discursive themes of NPM are then engaged using a feminist post-structuralist framework in order to develop a feminist critique. From this critique, it is argued that NPM discourses reinscribe dominant masculinity as well as challenge the Weberian model of bureaucracy by reconstructing a gendered division of labour that takes place entirely within the public sphere.