Political Speech (Obama Inaugural Address 20th January 2009) Essay

Political Speech (Obama Inaugural Address 20th January 2009) - Essay Example The inauguration ceremony of Barak Obama set out new records in the history of United States of America. More than a million people were there to congratulate Obama and to welcome him as the new president of America. (Jem Aswad and Jennifer Vineyard) The detail scrutiny of Obama’s speech laid out the fact that all three persuasive appeals that is Ethos, Pathos and logos were used in this speech. Ethos (credibility) is an appeal in which the speaker tends to put forward his potential, knowledge and credibility regarding certain fact. Pathos is an emotional appeal in which the orator tries to convince people about something by targeting their emotions. The selection of words greatly influence people’s emotions, the better the language the better will be its effect on emotions of people. Pathos is an effective way to improve an argument or speech. Logos is a logical speech. It is a means of putting forward arguments that are based on logics and facts. Any disagreement rega rding such argument can be discarded immediately by considering and having a look at facts. In order to analyze Obama’s speech I will start with Pathos. From the very inception of his speech Obama started to target people’s emotions in an effective manner. ... Moreover he also appreciated President Bush’s efforts by thanking him. This shows that he holds no grudges against any political leader. Obama again by indicating the past tried to tap the emotions of people by saying: â€Å"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.† Here he made them realize that each and every individual has certain responsibilities which are to be fulfilled. He has advised them they should accept their duties willingly without any resentment if they want their nation to prosper and progress fluidly. He said that giving yourself completely to a task which seems difficult and impossible and then coming out of the odds and ac hieving your goal is the finest accomplishment that one can ever have. In the end of the speech Obama again motivated the people by discussing the hardships which the United States of America has faced in the past. He put forward those difficulties by saying; â€Å"So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood†¦ America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy

Arab Spring - The Utility of the Foucauldian Notion of Resistance as Essay

Arab Spring - The Utility of the Foucauldian Notion of Resistance as Opposed to The Critical - Essay Example Tunisia’s government was replaced because of protestors who were rural, and joined with labor, and that the Tunisian government was eventually replaced with a government which was amenable to labor. In Egypt, the cosmopolitan and educated young people organized the uprisings, and they soon were backed by the Islamic Brotherhood. However, these young people did not topple the government so much as the military did, and now there is a clash between the democratically backed Brotherhood and the military, and there is not yet a new power structure in place. In Libya, the country devolved into a civil war, as the power structure was voided and no new centralized power structure took its place, therefore, the nation is ran by tribes, and has been marked by multiple secessions, and kin networks are providing the goods and services, along with the safety and security (Anderson, 2011, p. 6). The question is whether the critical theory of international relations and emancipation mark th ese conflicts or do they more closely resemble the Foucauldian view of resistance? The short answer is that Egypt and Tunisia resemble resistance theory and Libya resembles emancipation theory. This paper will explain the two theories and show why each country more resembles one theory as opposed to the other. Emancipation Theory According to Dougherty (2001, p. 470), emancipation theory is based upon revolutionism, which, in turn, is one of the principal traditions of international-relations theory. Specifically, Dougherty (2001) states that revolutionism places human emancipation as being paramount, as it helps to reach â€Å"the fullest human potential† (Dougherty, 2001, p. 477). Devetak (1996, p. 155) states that critical international theory works to bring about radical change by removing constraints on freedom. To this end, Devetak (1996, p. 155) asserts that critical international theory underpins the theory of emancipation, in that it has as its focus the understanding of conditions which would make emancipation possible. Linklater (1990, p. 89) states that the other two traditions of international theory – realism and rationalism - are both based upon order and power. In contrast, emancipation theory is based upon individualism. Furthermore, emancipation, or revolutionism, forms the bas is for critical theories of international relations whereas the other two traditions of realism and rationalism form the basis for traditional theories of international relations (Linklater, 1990, p. 90). Habermas, according to Goode (2005), promoted emancipation by stating that freedom is embodied in the public square of the bourgeois, while overlooking â€Å"antagonistic class relations† (Goode, 2005, p. 34). Neufeld (1995, p. 66) states that critical theory and emancipation have, at their roots, the theories of Kant, Hegel and Marx, although he credits Marx with bringing the theory into its maturation. Perhaps because Marx though that reason would somehow trump power structures and oppression, critics refer to emancipation theory as â€Å"Utopian,† although Wyn-Jones (2001, p. 58) states that while the principles underlying emancipation theory are utopian, the value of emancipation theory relies on this optimism. Devetak (1996, p. 157) further goes on to state that emancipation is based upon three concepts – autonomy, security and community. Autonomy means, according to Devetak (1996, p. 163) that individuals are free to live their lives without constraints which are unnecessary and are inhibiting to freedom. Security means the absence of threats, because autonomy cannot exist in the face of threats – threats curtail freedom, because if individuals are not safe, then they cannot pursue freedom. Among the threats