AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: THE IDEOLOGY OF «OURS»/»OTHERS» IN THE CONTEXT OF US POLICY TOWARDS ABKHAZIA AND GEORGIA

• Main Author: L. A. Lagrba
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MGIMO University Press 2017-12-01
• Series: Концепт: философия, религия, культура
• Subjects: the usa; abkhazia; georgia; political discourse; democracy in the american way; distinction ideology of «ours» and «others»; language manipulation; linguistic ideological paradigm
• Online Access: https://concept.mgimo.ru/jour/article/view/69

The present work is devoted to the analysis of the influence of American foreign policy rhetoric on international processes on the example of US policy towards Abkhazia and Georgia. The material for the study was taken from published resources in the on-line media or official statements by politicians reflecting the US position on Abkhazia and Georgia. The purpose of the study is to characterize the peculiarities of using certain set of linguistic ideological paradigms with pronounced appraisal connotations. To achieve this goal, the following task is set: to conduct a linguistic and cultural study on the concept of «democracy» and to trace the stereotyping of the semiotic-ideological opposition «ours» / «others», used by US politicians for discriminatory manipulative purposes aimed at separating under the principle of belonging / non-belonging to the circle of the elected («democratic») states. The relevance of the topic is that discursively conditioned stereotypes regarding Abkhazia and Georgia necessary for understanding the mechanisms of linguopragmatic actualization of certain concepts, reflecting the trends of US foreign policy in the South Caucasus, are underexplored. The research topic, due to its interdisciplinary nature, allows us to take different approaches to the analysis, in particular we used the methods of interpretative, contextual, comparative analysis, etc. The research itself is based on a fundamental premise about the dialectical interconnection between the language, consciousness and culture and their mutual conditioning. The study is based on works on the theory of linguoculturology, cognitive linguistics, political discourse, and intercultural communication. The concept of «democracy», its current connotations and interpretations, remain the main subject of controversy in contemporary political discourse, largely due to the US influence on world processes through the prism of democracy in the American style. We are interested in the linguistic and ideological background of the use of this concept by American politicians regarding the situation in Georgia and Abkhazia. The opposition «ours» / «others» is characteristic of American political discourse since the semiotic space of American life is sustained in the spirit of dualism «own» / «alien» to denote the concepts of «good» and «evil», while the images of the villain and the hero and the pathos of their struggle are typical for American national-cultural worldview.