International ‘sabre-rattling’ as a political tactic to distract attention from domestic difficulties.
This dissertation investigates the use of sabre-rattling rhetoric as a mechanism by which to distract voters’ attention from domestic difficulties. In so doing this dissertation investigates the present rhetoric of the Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her comments regarding the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. Noting not only the historic role of Britain in protecting the islands from forces of aggression but also the desire of the people of the islands to remain ‘under the Crown’, this dissertation seeks to evaluate the harm that such sabre-rattling does to the wider international reputation of countries such as Argentina.
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