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Legitimising language : 9/11 and liberal democracy

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-63). / Since the famous 9/11 terrorist attacks in America, the American government has increased their military presence across the world, most notably by occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. This they have done under the banner of spreading liberal democracy to oppressed peoples in far off places, arguing that their actions represent asense of moral clarity and are necessary if the world is going to be safe from evil. This paper argues that the term liberal democracy and all the ideological rhetoric of freedom that is employed give the Americans a moral high ground from which they seek to excuse and legitimise their actions. This thesis shows how the framework of spreading liberal democracy has been and is being used in order to legitimise actions which appear to be contradictory to the professed goals of spreading liberty and equality, to oppressed people.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/12372
Date January 2010
CreatorsEnnis, Andrew Edward
PublisherUniversity of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of English Language and Literature
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeMaster Thesis, Masters, MA
Formatapplication/pdf

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