Expressions of Relational Power in Nato Discourse: Cooperation with Former Adversaries

The dissolution of the Soviet Empire in 1991 has challenged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to grapple with an issue that had been avoided and postponed during the Cold War - how to give specific and practical content to the Alliance’s long-standing vision of a peaceful political order in Europe. This paper examines the galvanizing role of language in forging a solid discourse aimed at initiating and consolidating cooperation between the Alliance and its former adversaries in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Drawing on discourse analysis as a method of qualitative investigation, the present linguistic exploration of military discourse focuses on a number of NATO official documents that reify the Alliance’s determination to contribute to the construction of a more secure transatlantic environment