Political Metaphor Analysis: Discourse and Scenarios

Metaphors are ubiquitous in public discourse, ranging from evaluations of Brexit as a “divorce” (Poole, 2017) to descriptions of illness as a “war” (Macilwain, 2015). In his recent book Political Metaphor Analysis, Andreas Musolff, Professor of Intercultural Communication at the University of East Anglia (UK), explores the ways in which such metaphors impact political discourse. Departing from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), his core claim is that various important political metaphors suggest a specific narrative scenario that can be exploited by political proponents and opponents and can change over time. Musolff carefully builds his case for metaphorical scenarios in a number of steps. The book consists of seven chapters in which he develops this case, bookended by short introduction and conclusion chapters (Chapters 1 and 9). First, Musolff introduces and unpacks the general construct of “metaphorical scenarios” (Chapters 2 and 3). Chapter 2 focuses on the “politics as war” metaphor (e.g. expressions like “battle over policy” and “Fortress Europe”). It argues that the use of this metaphor already suggests a narrative with at least three stages: (a) a metaphorical war declaration, (b) the metaphorical fight, and (c) the outcome and aftermath. Over time, a political narrative can thus develop covering these stages.