State sovereignty and intervention: a discourse analysis of the North-American military intervention in Iraq in 2003

Abstract

This article aims to analyze how the Iraqi state sovereignty was relativized to the United States intervention began in March 2003 was justified as necessary. To do this, I will join the analytical contribution provided by Cynthia Weber (1995) and the methodology presented by Lene Hansen (2004) applying to the speeches of the former president George W. Bush, in order to identify what were the strategies used by his government to start military intervention in Iraq, at that time under the rule of Saddam Hussein. At the end, I conclude that, more than speeches, the arguments of the former president were able to shape a particular perception of Iraq and convince the international community about the danger that the country represented under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, serving as a possible refuge for terrorists and producer of weapons of mass destruction.

Keywords:
state sovereignty; intervention; discourse; Iraq; United States