Previously threats were conceived as being connected to wars and armed attacks on other countries. But if we observe the world today there are financial situations that, if they got out of hand, could cause severe problems for large parts of a countries population. The environment is another area where severe consequences can be expected. Buzan, Waever and de Wilde (1998:2) work from the premises that security can, and should, be applied to a wider selection of areas in society. From this stand point this Bachelor thesis will cover the discourse of threats in the inaugural addresses of USAs five most recent presidents: Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. The inaugural address` were chosen because it is the presidents opportunity to outline their strategy and ‘set the tone’ for their term in office (Brownell 2016).Throughout the analysis there is a focus on the five sections outlined in Buzans (1991:116) analysis model: military, politics, economy, ecology and societal. The analysis frame is based on both traditional realism and more alternative security theory. There is also a comparing element to examine whether there have been any changes in the discourse, connected to threats, since the 9/11 attacks. Furthermore, the study sets out to see if any of the subjects have shown signs of becoming securitized.The result of this study shows that the discourse of threat is mainly focused around the military section. There has been a general increase in the number of threats mentioned since 9/11, although some sections have decreased. Terrorism and immigration are the two questions that meets the criteria to have undergone securitization.

Jana Leichterová Conservative Criticism of Obamacare and its Transformation in the Context of Donald Trump Running for President Abstract The thesis deals with the debate over the health care reforms in the United States. It focuses specifically on the debate over the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, a health care reform initiated by President Barack Obama that was signed into law in March 2010. The goal of the thesis is to identify the main arguments of the conservative criticism of the Affordable Care Act, and to determine whether the debate transformed with the emergence of Donald Trump onto the political scene. The thesis provides historical context of the three main approaches to the health care policies in the United States throughout the 20th century: the Social Security path of strong government in the 1930s, the mixed "American way" with government providing social benefits to citizens through private institutions in the 1970s, and the approach of unregulated free market since the 1980s. Obama's health care originates in the urge for a national solution of the high number of uninsured citizens (more than 50 million in 2009) and rising cost of health care. The reform has three essential pillars: 1. the reform of the health insurance market that unifies the diverse state approaches and...

JAPPEL,
Ctibor.
Energy
Security
of
the
United
States
of
America.
Praha,
2012.
74
s.
 Diplomová
práce
(Mgr.),
Univerzita
Karlova,
Fakulta
sociálních
věd,
 Institut
mezinárodních
studií.
Katedra
amerických
studií.
 Vedoucí
diplomové
práce
PhDr.
et
Mgr.
Kryštof
Kozák,
Ph.
D.

 
 
 Abstract
 The
thesis
deals
with
the
energy
security
of
the
United
States
of
America
at
the
 beginning
 of
 the
 21st
 century.
 The
 first
 part
 of
 the
 thesis
 identifies
 energy
 security
as
a
relatively
new
concept
in
political
discourse,
whose
meaning
is
not
 yet
 firmly
 defined.
 The
 goal
 of
 this
 part
 is
 therefore
 to
 refine
 the
 definition
 of
energy
security
using
an
analysis
of
the
content
of
relevant
academic
sources.
 The
 second
 part
 of
 the
 thesis
 focuses
 specifically
 on
 the
 situation
 of
 the
 United
 States
 of
 America.
 It
 identifies
 the
 challenges
 to
 energy
 security
 the
 country
faces,
mainly
the
high
level
of
dependence
on
petroleum
products,
and
 provides
an
overview
of
available
solutions.
 The
 third
 part
 is
 a
 case
 study
 that
 deals
 with
 the
 presidential
 election
 campaign
of
2008.
This
campaign
took
place
during
a
period
of
extremely
high
 energy
prices,
and
the
energy
security
proposals
made
by
the
major
candidates
...

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / The 2008 presidential campaign controversy surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons had the potential to derail Barack Obama’s candidacy. At the heart of the controversy was race, specifically Whiteness. Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union” is perhaps one of the most significant political speeches addressing race to date, and warrants analysis. However, Barry Brummett’s book Rhetorical Dimensions of Popular Culture (1991) argues the critic should not be limited to discrete traditional texts, rather should be able to break outside such traditional speaker-focused boundaries. Brummett’s mosaic model allows an exploration of the intersection between popular and political rhetoric of Obama and The Daily Show. I will argue from the intersection we see the emergence of the comic frame as a homology that links the disparate texts of Obama and TDS. I will argue the reason the comic frame emerges from the texts is because there is a societal mandate for the comic frame. Thus, I will ultimately argue the mandate for the comic frame can be better understood as a social movement. However, it is a movement comprised of numerous individual movements, and warrants a new term: meta-movement. Obama and TDS are not leaders of this meta-movement, but instead should be seen as contributors. Brummett urges the critic to consider “the political or ideological interests served by ordering a rhetorical transaction in a certain way” (1991, p. 98). I will argue constructing the rhetoric of Obama and TDS with the comic frame serves the ideological interests of those who are fighting for social justice and working to subvert Whiteness. Thus, I have named the meta-movement to which Obama and TDS contribute a critical optimist movement, because the comic frame provides the tools to be critical of hegemony while ultimately reinforcing the optimistic assumption of the comic frame: all humans are ultimately both flawed and good.

Ce mémoire propose l'analyse de l'approche du candidat présidentiel Barack Obama à l'égard du dossier nucléaire iranien. Plus particulièrement, nous cherchons à déterminer s'il y a cohérence entre les promesses électorales de Barack Obama concernant l'Iran et la politique étrangère des États-Unis à l'égard de l'Iran mise en oeuvre durant la première moitié de son mandat à la Maison-Blanche (2009-2011). Menace à la sécurité nationale étatsunienne, l'Iran représente un enjeu capital lors de la campagne présidentielle américaine de 2008 en raison de son programme nucléaire. Contrairement au candidat républicain John McCain, le candidat démocrate Barack Obama préconise le dialogue et le multilatéralisme. Malgré l'impossibilité pour les Américains de rétablir les relations diplomatiques avec les Iraniens, en rupture depuis la crise des otages de 1980, il tend la main à cet ennemi des États-Unis. Durant la campagne, Obama s'est engagé à prévenir l'acquisition de l'arme nucléaire par l'Iran, principalement en conduisant une diplomatie agressive sans toutefois écarter l'option militaire.Ce mémoire conclut qu'il y a bel et bien cohérence entre les promesses électorales et la politique étrangère du président Obama, car celui-ci a respecté la presque totalité de ses engagements électoraux concernant l'Iran. Dans les deux premières années de son mandat, il s'est par exemple adressé directement aux leaders iraniens dans l'espoir d'ouvrir un dialogue avec ceux-ci, il a révisé la posture nucléaire américaine et a conclut [i.e. conclu] un nouveau traité avec la Russie en matière de désarmement nucléaire, et il a été en mesure de mobiliser une coalition internationale afin d'imposer de nouvelles sanctions au régime iranien.

This study is a content analysis of media content in a 12-month time period in the lives of Jason Wu and Thom Browne, who were the designers of Michelle Obama’s outfit to the second presidential inauguration. In order to discover the increase in awareness and media coverage of these designers due to Michelle Obama’s fashion selection during the second inauguration, which brought about publicity, the researcher compared mentions, tone of stories, and framing of stories concerning these designers 6 months before and after the inauguration. Results indeed gave support to the hypothesis that mentions of these designers increased significantly after that pivotal event, that the mentions were more likely to include Michelle Obama, and that Wu received more mentions than Browne. However, support was not obtained for an increase in positive tone of stories after the inauguration.

This paper examines the causes of the rise in vacancies on the federal courts in recent decades. Under President Barack Obama, the number of vacancies on the federal courts has sharply jumped. This is due to firm opposition by Senate Republicans, who have used the various procedural tools of that body to make it difficult for nominees to get confirmation. This antagonism is the result of a shift in how the parties view the courts and their role in the American political process. The Warren Court's expansion of substantive due process rights increased the Court's powers to the chagrin of conservatives. Republicans responded by blocking the nomination of Abe Fortas for Chief Justice; Democrats retaliated by defeating several of Richard Nixon's nominees to replace Fortas. These battles, and the prominence of legal issues such as abortion, would culminate in the vicious fight over Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Court, which influenced increasingly bitter fights in recent decades. I also propose a possible solution to the obstruction problem, inspired by procedures used in jury selection.

On June 29, 2011, President Barack Obama held a press conference regarding the nation's budget deficit. During the conference, President Obama mentioned corporate jet owners six times, criticizing their desire to maintain an accelerated depreciation tax break. The President's comments were met with strong criticism from aircraft manufacturers and members of the aviation community. Based on the underlying assumption that new information is rapidly incorporated into stock prices, the press conference likely had a negative impact on the stock returns of aircraft and aircraft parts manufacturers. This paper uses a financial events study to determine whether or not the press conference significantly hurt the stock prices of aircraft manufacturers.

During the 2008 Presidential election, questions concerning Barack Obama’s religious views arose. Specifically, the controversy surrounding Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, caused some people to wonder how Wright’s theology may have influenced Obama. This project investigates Obama’s religious views and examines several forces, including Wright, which influenced his theological perspective. Wright bases his theological perspective on the works of James Cone, a significant figure in Black Liberation Theology and a mentor to Wright. This thesis compares and contrasts Obama’s religious perspective with that of James Cone.

This dissertation analyzes the discourse of Obama’s speeches to argue my thesis that Obama won election by virtue of his rhetorical speechmaking but more specifically, his ability to manage race in those speeches. I define and refer to Obama’s rhetorical handling of race in his speechmaking throughout the campaign as the rhetoric of race management. By rhetorical race management, I mean the strategic use of race (or obfuscation of race) in one’s discourse to manage or affect the audience’s beliefs or opinions of the listener. From a communication-based standpoint, understanding how race operated in this election requires us to examine the history of racism in the United States as well as critical scholarly work on the subject. Understanding how Obama was able to manage race in his rhetoric is necessary because it forces us to perhaps reexamine and scrutinize the 2008 Presidential election more carefully for several reasons. As rhetorical scholars, if we are in the business of understanding how our icons and politicians can potentially manipulate and use our rhetorical signs and symbols against us—or in spite of us--it is in our best interest to understand why the process occurred and why we allowed it to happen. I suggest that Obama’s deliberate attempt to weave ideological constructs like patriotism and the American Dream into his campaign strategy obfuscated his representation as the marginalized “other” and created a new political identity that has little to do with marginalization. By examining the theories of scholars like Kenneth Burke, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Walter Fisher, and Dana Cloud, I outline how race and racism historically operated in our political elections, from both a sociopolitical, or quantitative perspective, as well as a critical perspective. By using a multimethod analysis, we are better positioned to understand how Barack Obama successfully played the race card in the Presidential Election of 2008. More importantly, I argue in my conclusion why his use of rhetorical race management, was absolutely necessary if he were to become the first African-American president in a historically racist country. / text