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In:Metaphor, Nation and Discourse
Edited by Ljiljana Šarić and Mateusz-Milan Stanojević
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 82] 2019
► pp. 35–58

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Chapter 1
The desire for shelter

Nation- and state-building and the metaphorical discourse of fragile and collapsed states

 | Willamette University
Published online: 20 May 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.82.02mar
Abstract
Among scholars and practitioners of politics, a common way of thinking about insecure political systems is to conceptualize the lack of political order in terms of metaphorically fragile and collapsed states. The suggested solution to state fragility and collapse is often the policy of nation- and state-building. This chapter uses the theory of conceptual metaphor to understand the discursive and policy relationships between the metaphorical concepts of nation- and state-building and their counterparts in the conceptual metaphors of fragile and collapsed states. The chapter finds that fear of exposure and vulnerability in a world without shelter provides a logic for the physical protection supplied by the state and the remedy that nation- and state-building provide when that structure is in jeopardy.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical considerations
  • 3.Conceptual metaphors, state insecurity and the desire for shelter
    • 3.1Fragileand collapsed states
    • 3.2Nation- and state-“building”
    • 3.3Nation- and state-building as a solution to “fragile” and “collapsed” states
    • 3.4Is “peace-building” the answer?
  • 4.Conclusion: The desire for shelter – metaphorical and literal
  • Notes
  • References
References (75)
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