| Abstract: Based on an interpretive study of mass media discourses in four Western democracies, this contribution probes the uses and impact of metaphorical concepts in legitimacy-related political communication. It assumes that the media function as a discursive battleground, thus not merely disseminating information but rather creating a space for – as well as contributing their own – positive or negative evaluations of specific policies, political authorities, or entire political orders. Following Max Weber and Rodney Barker, claims of an evaluative kind – legitimation statements – may be regarded as discursive practices through which legitimacy is ascribed (or contested), and it can be shown that figurative language plays a key role in the discursive construction of (il-)legitimacy. The paper offers a critical analysis of metaphorical concepts used in US, British, German, and Swiss discourses on the legitimacy of the four national political orders and their core institutions, the supranational regime of the European Union, as well as the intergovernmental arrangements of the G7/8 regime. A corpus of articles and statements drawn from two high-quality newspapers per country over a period of ten years (1998-2007) is the basis of this study. The source domains and entailments of metaphorical statements – such as evaluations of the G7/8 as a "rich men's club annual jamboree" – will be identified, compared, and assessed: Which metaphorical concepts underpin the public (de-)legitimation of the examined political orders, and what do they reveal about the legitimacy (deficits) and normative foundations of national and international governance arrangements in the age of globalization? |
Gronau, Jennifer
Schneider, Steffen
2009
International Political Science Association
in: Working Paper Series of the Committee on Concepts and Methods 37/2009
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