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It is hardly novel to argue that terrorism is a metaphorical construction. Only five days after 9/11, George Lakoff published a short piece on “Metaphors of Terror” in which he shows that the US-administration at first framed the events as a “crime”, but changed to “war” within hours. Surprisingly, not much research on the metaphorical construction of terrorism has followed since, despite continued terrorist attacks. We will show in our paper that this is a serious failure, as metaphorical analysis allows us to understand not only how we came to understand terrorism in a certain way, but also why we reacted the way we did. As metaphors construct the phenomenon in a specific way, they make certain counter-terrorism policies possible while other means of addressing the issue remain outside of the options considered as a response. To support our claim we present empirical evidence from a comparative study on terrorism-metaphors and their policy-implications in Germany and the UK. Arguing that popular images are at least as important as expert images we have focused on terrorism-metaphors in the tabloid press (‘Sun’ and ‘Bild’). However, we not only compare popular metaphor-use in these two countries, but also examine the way they have evolved over time: while there is little difference between the metaphors in Germany and the UK, they have changed remarkably from 9/11 to Madrid (2004) and London (2005). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image is the new master-category of international politics. A favourable state-image seems to be crucial for attracting foreign direct investment, for gaining support for one’s political initiatives in the UN, for being selected to host a major sports event and also for not being targeted by terrorists. As almost any issue is constructed in terms of image, the management of a state’s international image has (again?) become a central task of diplomacy. This paper looks at how diplomacy meets this challenge. By analysing current diplomatic practices particularly in Germany and the UK, I show how principles of marketing and PR increasingly guide diplomatic action. Advertising, branding, (intercultural) dialoging and staging mega-events are the instruments most often used to demonstrate a country’s attractiveness. I argue that the rise of such instruments transforms the logic of international politics. While power used to be a question of material capabilities, it now depends on one’s popularity. While action used to be guided by considerations of consequences or appropriateness, the logic of attractiveness is now key. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructivism in IR, moderate and radical versions alike, suffers from a superficial understanding of language: Looking only at argumentation and content (what is being said), it overlooks that reality is also being constructed below the surface of texts: it does make a difference, how I say something. Style matters! The proposed paper will point to the crucial role metaphors play in this regard: Metaphors create reality by projecting everyday life-worlds onto international relations. They make sense of and give meaning to strange material phenomena such as the fall of the Berlin wall or the WTC-towers. My paper will come up with a method of analysing metaphors that builds on two strands of literature: post-structuralist theories of discourse on the one hand and sociology of knowledge on the other. In order to illustrate how the method works on the empirical ground, it will be applied to the discourse on EU-enlargement, showing that and how enlargement-metaphors construct European identity. Against this background the paper will finally reflect upon linguistic mechanisms of identity construction more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image matters. Based on the assumption that a favourable image is an asset in the global "Standortwettbewerb" as well as in the war of ideas, more and more states actively pursue foreign image policies: they try to influence how they are perceived by foreign publics. This paper shows that German foreign policy, too, is being re-shaped according to the logic of attractiveness. While old-style foreign cultural relations, e.g. the organisation of exhibitions in foreign capitals by the Goethe-Institute, are in decline, the Federal Foreign Office has set up a directorate general on ?communication, public diplomacy and media? with the explicit task of ?promoting Germany?. Elaborate marketing- and public relations-tools are employed to create a ?brand? Germany. My paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of this image-turn in German foreign policy. To this end I re-construct how image management works ? analysing its institutions, instruments and practices. The paper also looks at the substance of the images constructed ? ranging from Germany being ?the land of ideas? to being the world?s chief dialogue-entrepreneur, mediating between the West and Islam. Moreover, I discuss possible implications for German foreign policy at large. What are the consequences for foreign policy, if popularity is the key measure of success? And while Germany?s image management is at the centre of this study, the insights may well be of relevance beyond this case. I claim that we are in the middle of a paradigm-shift, where foreign policy becomes foreign image policy, popularity is more important than (material) power and action guided by the logic of attractiveness rather than by the logics of consequentality or appropriateness. As IR and FPA seem to be rather unaware of this shift, this paper is hoped to open up debate. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing consensus in IR that metaphors matter in international politics. Drawing on Liechtenstein?s experience, this paper shows that states? struggle with the challenges of globalisation has an important metaphorical dimension: Liechtenstein has long held the reputation of a financial haven, tax oasis and money-laundering paradise ? and enjoyed the economic benefits. However, at the end of the 1990s the country was put on blacklists by the OECD and FATF. The result was considerable reputational damage. To repair its image Liechtenstein hired PR-experts. They suggested to dump the old metaphors and view the country in the light of a new metaphor instead ? as a brand. In consequence, marketing and advertising methods became the central tools of Liechtenstein?s foreign policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Back in the late 1980s: The United States, unable to win its self-declared war on drugs, pushed fellow G7-countries to take up the fight against money-laundering. Although dirty money had been travelling around the financial globe for some time, it had never been regarded as much of a serious political problem, neither on a national nor on an international level. Hence, it had to be constructed from scratch. This paper shows how national policy makers, international regulators, law enforcement personnel and bank managers did and do use metaphors to make sense of and at the same time construct money-laundering. Calling some countries financial havens constituted money-laundering as a global problem. Describing the financial industry as deputy sheriffs questioned the boundary between the public and the private sector. And building an international institutional architecture gave the states something to do and provided the illusion of problem-solving. By drawing on textual evidence from interviews carried out in the anti-money-laundering community, I will demonstrate that and how these and other metaphors gain practical importance: they not only help the individual actor to make (sense of) his/her world, but they also provide the community with a common language and thus ? as students of national identity tell us with a common identity. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical accounts of regionalisation are rare. This may be due to the dominant interpretation of regional co-operation being the result of the initiative and shared interests of the countries in a particular region. This, however, ignores that regions are not only being built from the inside, but also from the outside, namely by external actors. By drawing on an analysis of the institutional framework of anti-money-laundering, this paper discusses how and why international organisations of the North foster regional organisations in the South. In the case of anti-money-laundering the North?s exclusive standard-setting organisation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has created formally independent regional anti-money-laundering organisations in the South, for example the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). With reference to the concept of governmentality the paper argues that such regionalisation from the outside is an instrument of the North to control the South by enhancing self-control. The regional bodies are little else than the North?s proconsuls in the South, as they simply adapt FATF?s rules, apply its monitoring mechanisms and depend heavily on FATF?s technical, financial and epistemic support. However, the regional organisations create the impression that money-laundering is autonomously being dealt with on a regional level. The North uses the positively connoted concept of regions to control ? and disguise its control ? of the South. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]