Die Konstruktion eines aussenpolitischen Gegners: Das Chinabild im US-Prasidentschafitswahlkampf 2012
In: Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft: ZPol = Journal of political science, Band 24, Heft 1-2
ISSN: 1430-6387
Hardly any strategic question is discussed as intensely by experts, media and politicians in the United States as the 'rise' of China and its repercussions on the relationship between the two countries. In this debate, China is often presented as a threat. From the perspective of post-structuralist discourse theories, however, such debates are not a mere exchange of arguments decoupled from the sphere of action but yield truly political consequences: These discourses constitute the meaning of China for US foreign policy and thus render specific courses of action possible and legitimate. However, such narratives can only influence a democracy's foreign policy in the long run, if they are deeply rooted in the population as well. Electoral campaigns are an especially salient example of such processes of knowledge and identity production. Therefore, by using Grounded Theory methodology, the article aims at reconstructing the 'image of China' that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney discursively produced in the 2012 presidential campaign. Both candidates systematically presented China as a threatening challenge and as an antagonist of the US. Adapted from the source document.