Title
Bill Clinton’s ‘new partnership’ anecdote: Toward a post-Cold War foreign policy rhetoric
Publication Date
2007
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This essay explores the composition of United States post-Cold War foreign policy rhetoric under President Bill Clinton. We contend that Bill Clinton offered a coherent and comprehensive foreign policy narrative for the direction of U.S. foreign policy discourse in the post-Cold War world. Specifically, we analyze the “new partnership” narrative that Clinton articulated in his 1998 trip to Africa as a representative anecdote for the larger body of his foreign policy discourse. This “new partnership” narrative was structured by three narrative themes: (1) America’s role as world leader; (2) reconstituting the threat environment; (3) democracy promotion as the strategy for American foreign policy. These three themes can be found throughout Clinton’s foreign policy rhetoric and serve as the basis for a foreign policy narrative used by Clinton, and perhaps, future administrations.
Original Citation
Edwards, J.A. & Valenzano, J.M, III. (2007). Bill Clinton’s ‘new partnership’ anecdote: Toward a post-Cold War foreign policy rhetoric. The Journal of Language and Politics, 6(3), 303-325.
Virtual Commons Citation
Edwards, Jason A. and Valenzano, Joseph M. III (2007). Bill Clinton’s ‘new partnership’ anecdote: Toward a post-Cold War foreign policy rhetoric. In Communication Studies Faculty Publications. Paper 10.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/commstud_fac/10