“We or the Others”.

The construction of international terrorism in the presidential speeches of Argentina and the United States (1992-2006)

Abstract

The attack of September 11, 2001 marked a turning point in the global positioning against the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism. In this sense, the United States initiated a policy of "total war" against Al Qaeda and invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, overthrowing both governments with the aim of establishing democratic systems in the region. Therefore, the fight against terrorism became one of the main issues on the agenda of the Northern Power, influencing not only the positioning of the different actors in the international system but also the relations between the United States and the rest of the countries, including Argentina.

The objective of the present work is to conduct a comparative study of the speeches and documents of the Executive Powers of the United States and Argentina against Terrorism, understanding the 11 s as a watershed that allows to indicate ruptures and continuities as well as the construction of the other as enemy and the configuration of a new system of alliances. To this end, we will focus attention on the speeches of Bill Clinton, George Bush, Carlos Menem and Nestor Kirchner alluding to the problematic.

To carry out this work will be used methodological tools of Discourse Analysis, as well as an approach will be made to the imaginaries that underlie the different identity constructions elaborated by the mentioned actors.