The Peacekeeping Mission: Bringing Stability to a Chaotic Scene

Abstract

This article examines the military intervention called the peacekeeping mission. This article argues that this particular intervention is qualitatively different than war and crisis rhetoric. A tentative model of the rhetoric of peacekeeping that involves 2 elements is proffered. First, it is found that peacekeeping mission rhetors emphasize a chaotic scene that drives American action. Second, and perhaps most important, American intervention is characterized as facilitating security to allow larger political, economic, and cultural stability to take hold within a particular state. Further, peacekeeping mission rhetors highlight the constraints of the intervention to make it more palpable to the American public. Exploring peacekeeping mission rhetoric has implications related to presidential justifications for the use of military force and U.S. foreign policy in general.

Keywords:

• American Foreign Policy
• Peacekeeping Mission
• Presidential Rhetoric
• War Rhetoric

Acknowledgments

Earlier versions of this article were presented at the 2007 Eastern Communication Association conference, Philadelphia, PA and on the Top Papers of Rhetoric and Public Address Panel at the 2008 Southern States Communication Association conference, Savannah, GA.

Notes

Throughout this manuscript, we refer to U.S. presidents using masculine pronouns. Because all U.S. presidents, to date, have been men, and the institution of the presidency has historically been hyper-masculine, we believe the masculine pronoun is appropriate.

A number of different statements at the onset of the belligerency within Lebanon, Somalia, and Bosnia were examined, and no president laid the blame for the chaos on the shoulders of any specific group.

Bill Clinton (1995) also used similar terms to describe the Somali belligerents. He assigned the blame for Somalia's woes to “warlords,” “armed gangs,” “a small minority of Somalis,” and the “people who caused much of this problem.” See J. R. Butler (2002) and Edwards (2008) for further discussions of Clinton's discourse on Somalia.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jason A. Edwards

Jason A. Edwards (Ph.D., Georgia State University, 2006) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Bridgewater State University.

Joseph M. Valenzano

Joseph M. Valenzano, III (Ph.D., Georgia State University, 2006) is an assistant professor in residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Karla Stevenson

Karla Stevenson (M.A., University of Iowa, 2007) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.