Förödmjukade patrioter och behövande kvinnor : En feministisk kritisk diskursanalys av säkerhet och identitetskonstruktion i Donald Trumps presidentvalskampanj 2024

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores security-related identity construction and notions of gender in Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Drawing on feminist IR and perspectives on security and identity, the thesis analyses how discursive processes of ‘othering’ contribute to the meaning-making of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in a security-related and right-wing populist context, with a particular focus on how notions of gender legitimise this construction. Using a feminist critical approach, several of Trump’s speeches during the 2024 election year are examined, focusing on the ‘us’/’them’ dichotomisation in statements linked to national security. The analysis reveals that the prevalence of this dichotomy during the campaign is largely legitimised through assumptions based on traditional gender norms. Trump frequently constructs ‘us’ as representative of an idealised and militarised masculinity, grounded in a gendered logic of protection in which men are structurally superior to women. ‘Them’, on the other hand, is portrayed as a national security threat and a radical ‘other’, symbolising both a hypersexualised, irrational, barbaric masculine identity and a humiliated, weakened, and feminised identity, depending on the context and who is being referred to. The study highlights how identity construction linked to security concerns in right-wing populist discourse often relies on gendered dimensions, reinforcing polarization between social groups and perpetuating traditional gender ideals.