Bill Clinton's "new partnership" anecdote: Toward a post-Cold War foreign policy rhetoric

In: Journal of language and politics, Volume 6, Issue 3, p. 303-325

Abstract

This essay explores the composition of United States post-Cold War foreign policy rhetoric under President Bill Clinton. We contend that Bill Clinton offered a coherent and comprehensive foreign policy narrative for the direction of U.S. foreign policy discourse in the post-Cold War world. Specifically, we analyze the 'new partnership' narrative that Clinton articulated in his 1998 trip to Africa as a representative anecdote for the larger body of his foreign policy discourse. This 'new partnership' narrative was structured by three narrative themes: (1) America's role as world leader; (2) reconstituting the threat environment; (3) democracy promotion as the strategy for American foreign policy. These three themes can be found throughout Clinton's foreign policy rhetoric and serve as the basis for a foreign policy narrative used by Clinton, and perhaps, future administrations. Adapted from the source document.