Strategic Legitimation through Rhetorical Dissociation in International Relations

Abstract

Abstract What are the processes through which strategic political actors legitimize their preferred policy choice with multiple audiences in international politics? This article builds a conceptual framework of rhetorical dissociation where strategic actors present normative justifications hierarchically to gain acceptance among different audiences. Such hierarchizing works in three interconnected ways whereby strategic actors delineate audience types, create a rhetorical presence to resonate with sympathetic audiences, and establish a bounded dialogue in their legitimation politics to sideline the normative validity claims of other audiences. By engaging with International Relations (IR) theories of strategic legitimation, this article contributes to this field by showing how strategic actors use multiple audiences in the game to their advantage and wrestle a distinct normativity through rhetoric so that it fits their strategic goals. I illustrate the model by empirically examining India's strategic legitimation of intervention in the East Pakistan crisis in 1971. This article also sets the stage for further empirical examination of strategic legitimation, particularly in engaging with humanitarian crises abroad.