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Abstract
An analysis of Poland's and Bulgaria's foreign policy articulations on Iraq provides a discursive platform not only for the manifestation of national self-positioning in the international arena, but also for the expression of national fears and the re-contextualization of historical narratives. The claim is that the Iraq war became a ‘hoax’ for public expressions of the ‘essence of the nation’. Despite the different conditions and historical experience, in both Poland and Bulgaria the foreign policy discourses on Iraq conjured up a fictitious construct of the nation, which, while playing on the (apathetic) credulity of the public, facilitated the radicalization of the political discourse in both countries by undermining the assertion of diversity as a precondition of politics and instead has invoked the imagination of ethnic and moral unity. The conclusion, therefore, is that the foreign policy discourses on Iraq attest to the possibility of the erosion of politics in the post-communist countries.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Lene Hansen, Anna Yeatman and the anonymous reviewer for their comments on earlier drafts. Financial assistance by the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Fund is also gratefully acknowledged.
Notes
1 Attacks put Kerbala residents on edge, New York Times, 29 December 2003.
2 Chirac lashes out at ‘New Europe’, CNN, 18 February 2003.
3 Polacy w Iraku, TVP, 20 February 2006.
4 Adam Michnik quoted in Cushman (Citation2004, p. 32).
5 Gościem Moniki Olejnik jest prezydent Aleksander Kwaśniewski, RadioZet, 9 November 2003.
6 Trzeba podjęć walkę, aby zachować pokój, Rzeczpospolita, 22 March 2003.
7 See Norman Fairclough's poignant discourse analysis of the reference tothe international community in the speeches of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as well as his narrative formation of protagonists (the ‘we’) and antagonists of the global world (Fairclough, Citation2005, pp. 41–63). On the connection between the formation of communal identity and the usage of the pronominal ‘we’ see Íñigo-Mora (Citation2004, pp. 27–52).
8 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, Przekrój, 27 March 2003.
9 Staneliśmy po dobrej stronie, Gazeta Wyborcza, 12 April 2003.
10 Trzeba podjęć walkę, aby zachować pokój, Rzeczpospolita, 22 March 2003.
11 ‘Pourquoi l'Europe de l'Est vote George Bush’, Le Monde, 4 May 2003.
12 Kwaśniewski in: Przed narodem irackim otwiera się nowa epoka, Europa, 16 December 2003.
13 Nadal będę wizy dla Polaków, SygnałyDnia/PolskieRadioJedynka, 28 January 2004.
14 Zostawić czy odwołać do kraju?, Trybuna, 14 May 2004.
15 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, NiedzielnySalonTrójki, 4 May 2003.
16 Ameryka traktuje swoich przyjaciół jak terrorystów, Europa, 28 January 2004.
17 Wychodzimy, nie uciekamy, Tygodnik Powszechny, 10 October 2004.
18 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, Przekrój, 27 March 2003.
19 Gościem Moniki Olejnik jest prezydent Aleksander Kwaśniewski, RadioZet, 9 November 2003.
20 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, TVN, 12 September 2004.
21 Polska, twarda dyplomacja brukselska, Wprost, 21 March 2003.
22 Przed narodem irackim otwiera się nowa epoka, Europa, 16 December 2003.
23 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, Gazeta Wyborcza, 4 May 2003.
24 Nasza skaza narodowa, Tygodnik Powszechny, 27 November 2005.
25 Poland keeps forces in Iraq, International Herald Tribune, 27 December 2005.
26 Negocjacji nie będzie—żadnych, SygnałyDnia/PolskieRadioJedynka, 29 October 2004.
27 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, TVP1, 27 December 2003.
28 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim. TVN, 12 September 2004.
29 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, EchaDnia/TV3, 16 December 2003.
30 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, TVN24, 3 November 2003.
31 For a relevant analysis of the ‘Europeanisation’ of Polish foreign policy see Pomorska (Citation2007).
32 Wywiad z prezydentem Kwaśniewskim, TVN24, 3 November 2003.
33 Treti sme po broia na raneni, Monitor, 16 March 2005.
34 Bulgaria returns troops to Iraq, BBC News, 22 February 2006.
35 Focus News Agency (hereafter Focus), 15 February 2006. During his recent visit to Sofia George W. Bush thanked Bulgaria for its perseverance as a ‘strong and reliable partner’ in Iraq (Interview with Bush, BNT, 1 June 2007).
36 Parvanov quoted in Focus, 19 November 2003.
37 Mediapool News Agency (hereafter Mediapool), 31 February, 2003.
38 Glavnokomandvashtia v Iraq, Trud, 26 April 2004.
39 Focus, 7 February 2003.
40 Focus, 12 April 2003.
41 Focus, 27 May 2003.
42 Parvanov quoted in Focus, 5 February 2003.
43 Focus, 14 April 2003.
44 CSIS Brief, 19 October 2004.
45 Focus, 7 February 2003.
46 Focus, 18 November 2003.
47 Focus, 6 January 2004.
48 Bulgarite izostaveni v Kerbala, Vizh, 8 April 2004.
49 Podp. Marinov razkazva, Trud, 19 April 2004.
50 Bitka mejdu Bulgarski i Amerikanski voinici, Standart, 9 March 2005.
51 Priatelski ogun v tila na Generalnia Shtab, Novinar, 8 March 2005.
52 Focus, 18 March 2005.
53 Parvanov in: Nacionalniat interes ne se izmerva v dolari, Duma, 1 March, 2003.
54 Mediapool, 30 December 2003.
55 Lekcia za Iraq, Monitor, 28 December 2003.
56 Parvanov in: Kabinetat napravi mnogo greshki, Trud, 19 May 2003.
57 Agence France-Presse, 14 July 2004.
58 Focus, 20 April 2004.
59 Parvanov's inaugural presidential address, 19 January 2002, available online at: http://www.president.bg/en/news.php?id = 7&st = o>.