Metaphor at Work in the Analysis of Political Discourse: Investigating a ‘Preventive War’ Persuasion Strategy

The crucial historical moment represented by post 9/11 may undoubtedly be considered responsible for the subsequent hardening of American political rhetoric. And yet, the sudden increase of consensus catalysed by George W. Bush and the consequences of his international policy bring his modus persuadendi up for discussion. The aim of this article is to present a framework for a metaphor-based critical analysis of persuasion in political discourse. Our object of observation is George W. Bush’s public speeches to the nation (2001–4). More specifically, the analysis is focused on the persuasion strategy enacted to promote the preventive war in Iraq. In our approach, conceptual metaphor as related to emotion constitutes the fundamental argumentative feature and crucial tool to address the matter of persuasion in text, contributing to identifying both the ideological root and the persuasive strategy of a given discourse in the long run. Synthesis of our results shows the potentialities of metaphor as a privileged cognitive tool for abstracting and constructing discourse strategies.