Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump
Neoliberalism is a complex and ambiguous concept that has been consistently referred to by critics of an economic policy based, at least rhetorically, on free market and free trade in the last few decades. These two major tenets of neoliberalism have dominated the discourse of American presidents si...
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| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
| Udgivet: |
Angles
2020
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| Fag: | |
| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_625 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
openedition |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
États-Unis néolibéralisme marché libre échange métaphores conceptuelles rhétorique discours présidentiels mercantilisme État United States neoliberalism free market free trade conceptual metaphors presidential rhetoric discourse government mercantilism |
| spellingShingle |
États-Unis néolibéralisme marché libre échange métaphores conceptuelles rhétorique discours présidentiels mercantilisme État United States neoliberalism free market free trade conceptual metaphors presidential rhetoric discourse government mercantilism Viala-Gaudefroy, Jérôme Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump |
| description |
Neoliberalism is a complex and ambiguous concept that has been consistently referred to by critics of an economic policy based, at least rhetorically, on free market and free trade in the last few decades. These two major tenets of neoliberalism have dominated the discourse of American presidents since the beginning of the 1980s. The same period has also been characterized by an increased tendency to tie these economic policies to freedom, a core value of American identity that came to be defined primarily in economic terms. Starting with Ronald Reagan, economic freedom rather than political liberty became the measure of virtue, as the “free world” admitted more authoritarian regimes in its ranks in the name of anti-communism (Numberg 2003). The collapse of the Soviet bloc only served to bolster the vision that free market and free trade alone could bring prosperity and political freedom. This would become the dominant worldview at international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF and would be solidified in the rhetoric of Republican and Democratic presidents alike (McNaught 2009). Drawing on the rhetorical and cognitive approaches developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1981), Chilton (2004) and Charteris-Black (2011), this paper analyses how conceptual metaphors in presidential discourse have contributed to creating a mythical vision of free trade and free market since the 1980s. The metaphors of movement, journey, nature, machine and sport resonate with the way Americans understand and experience their national identity, at the center of which are the values of freedom, competition and progress. They have turned an abstract economic philosophy into a comprehensible and sacred story at the heart of the American model. This model has been one of expansion of free markets and free trade. It has also been pervasive even in the domestic sphere, in the way a divisive issue like health care was framed through a positive market narrative. Despite policies that may have occasionally seemed to contradict the faith in the market, especially in the wake of the 2008 financial and economic meltdown, presidential discourse remained focused on free trade and free markets. This economic crisis may have triggered the first cracks in the mostly consensual view of free trade and free market in political rhetoric across the board. This article argues that much as there was a neoliberal consensus for 35 years, President Trump has been the great disrupter of neoliberal rhetoric by rejecting free trade agreements and by ignoring altogether the virtue of free market, a notion almost entirely absent from his discourse. He has replaced the neoliberal doxa with a discourse centered on the trade deficit and on short-term accumulation of national wealth and power. He has embraced the virtue of national sovereignty while rejecting what he called “globalism”. He has offered an antagonistic vision of a world in which international trade is conceived as a zero-sum game. This new vision is reflected in the metaphors used by a president who has challenged the norms of presidential rhetoric at many levels. |
| author |
Viala-Gaudefroy, Jérôme |
| author_facet |
Viala-Gaudefroy, Jérôme |
| author_sort |
Viala-Gaudefroy, Jérôme |
| title |
Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump |
| title_short |
Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump |
| title_full |
Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump |
| title_fullStr |
Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump |
| title_sort |
neoliberal metaphors in presidential discourse from ronald reagan to donald trump |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.625 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/625 |
| _version_ |
1877293947793965056 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_625 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.625 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.625 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/625 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9myp https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Neoliberal Metaphors in Presidential Discourse from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Viala-Gaudefroy, Jérôme États-Unis néolibéralisme marché libre échange métaphores conceptuelles rhétorique discours présidentiels mercantilisme État United States neoliberalism free market free trade conceptual metaphors presidential rhetoric discourse government mercantilism Neoliberalism is a complex and ambiguous concept that has been consistently referred to by critics of an economic policy based, at least rhetorically, on free market and free trade in the last few decades. These two major tenets of neoliberalism have dominated the discourse of American presidents since the beginning of the 1980s. The same period has also been characterized by an increased tendency to tie these economic policies to freedom, a core value of American identity that came to be defined primarily in economic terms. Starting with Ronald Reagan, economic freedom rather than political liberty became the measure of virtue, as the “free world” admitted more authoritarian regimes in its ranks in the name of anti-communism (Numberg 2003). The collapse of the Soviet bloc only served to bolster the vision that free market and free trade alone could bring prosperity and political freedom. This would become the dominant worldview at international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF and would be solidified in the rhetoric of Republican and Democratic presidents alike (McNaught 2009). Drawing on the rhetorical and cognitive approaches developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1981), Chilton (2004) and Charteris-Black (2011), this paper analyses how conceptual metaphors in presidential discourse have contributed to creating a mythical vision of free trade and free market since the 1980s. The metaphors of movement, journey, nature, machine and sport resonate with the way Americans understand and experience their national identity, at the center of which are the values of freedom, competition and progress. They have turned an abstract economic philosophy into a comprehensible and sacred story at the heart of the American model. This model has been one of expansion of free markets and free trade. It has also been pervasive even in the domestic sphere, in the way a divisive issue like health care was framed through a positive market narrative. Despite policies that may have occasionally seemed to contradict the faith in the market, especially in the wake of the 2008 financial and economic meltdown, presidential discourse remained focused on free trade and free markets. This economic crisis may have triggered the first cracks in the mostly consensual view of free trade and free market in political rhetoric across the board. This article argues that much as there was a neoliberal consensus for 35 years, President Trump has been the great disrupter of neoliberal rhetoric by rejecting free trade agreements and by ignoring altogether the virtue of free market, a notion almost entirely absent from his discourse. He has replaced the neoliberal doxa with a discourse centered on the trade deficit and on short-term accumulation of national wealth and power. He has embraced the virtue of national sovereignty while rejecting what he called “globalism”. He has offered an antagonistic vision of a world in which international trade is conceived as a zero-sum game. This new vision is reflected in the metaphors used by a president who has challenged the norms of presidential rhetoric at many levels. Le néolibéralisme est un concept complexe et ambigu, auquel se sont constamment référés, au cours des dernières décennies, les critiques d’une politique économique promouvant, sur le plan rhétorique au moins, le marché et le libre-échange. Ces deux principes majeurs du néolibéralisme ont dominé le discours des présidents américains depuis les années 80. Cette même période a vu une tendance croissante à associer les politiques économiques à la liberté, une valeur au cœur de l’identité américaine qui a été finalement définie en termes économiques. C’est notamment avec Ronald Reagan que la liberté économique plutôt que la liberté politique est devenue systématiquement la mesure de la vertu. Ceci alors que le « monde libre » acceptait des régimes autoritaires dans ses rangs au nom de l’anticommunisme (Numberg 2003). L’effondrement du bloc soviétique n’a fait que renforcer l’idée que, seuls, le marché et le libre échange pouvaient conduire à la prospérité et à la liberté politique. Ce qui deviendra le point de vue dominant d’institutions internationales comme la Banque mondiale ou le FMI et allait davantage s’ancrer dans la rhétorique des présidents aussi bien républicains que démocrates (McNaught 2009). Cet article s’appuie sur l’approche cognitive développée par Lakoff et Johnson (1981), Chilton (2004) ainsi que Charteris-Black (2011). Il propose d’analyser comment, dans les discours présidentiels, les métaphores conceptuelles ont contribué à la création d’une vision mythifiée du libre-échange et du marché construite depuis le début des années 80. Ces métaphores du mouvement, du voyage, de la nature, de la machine et du sport font écho à la façon dont les Américains conçoivent et expérimentent leur identité nationale fondée sur les valeurs de liberté, de compétition et de progrès. Elles ont permis de transformer une philosophie économique abstraite en un récit compréhensible et sacré au cœur du modèle américain. Ce modèle d’expansion du marché et du libre-échange est omniprésent. Il a également envahi la politique intérieure, comme le montre l’analyse rhétorique des prises de position sur un sujet controversé comme la santé, formulées à l’aide d’un récit positif sur le marché. Alors que les effets suscités par les politiques menées ont occasionnellement semblé contredire la foi dans le marché, particulièrement à la suite de la crise économique et financière de 2008, la rhétorique présidentielle est restée la même. Or il s’avère que cette crise a, in fine, pu être un des déclencheurs des premières fissures dans la vision consensuelle du marché et du libre-échange dominant la politique américaine. Cet article démontre que le président Trump a largement perturbé le consensus rhétorique néolibéral en rejetant les accords de libre-échange et en ignorant complètement les vertus d’un marché complètement absent de son discours. Il a ainsi remplacé la doxa néolibérale par une rhétorique centrée sur le déficit commercial et l’accumulation à court terme de richesse et de puissance nationale. Il a fait de la souveraineté nationale la vertu cardinale et rejeté ce qu’il qualifie de « mondialisme ». Il offre une vision antagoniste d’un monde dans lequel le commerce international est conçu comme un jeu à somme nulle. Cette nouvelle vision se reflète dans les métaphores utilisées par un président qui a remis en cause la rhétorique présidentielle à plus d’un titre. |