Werner WestphalOtto von Bismarcks Politik als diskursives Handeln

Rezension

[...] Für Westphal ist Bismarck, modern gesprochen, ein großer „Influenzer“ des 19. Jahrhunderts, der sich geschickt zu inszenieren verstand, der Menschen in seinen Bann zog. „Seine kommunikative Kompetenz war ein maßgeblicher Faktor für seinen Erfolg, die Durchsetzung seines Ziels der Gründung des Kaiserreiches unter preußischer Führung am 1. Januar 1871. Er wollte die Deutungshoheit über die Ereignisse, vor allem politische Prozesse“, schätzt Westphal. Für ihn sei nicht entscheidend gewesen, was andere über ihn dachten, sondern wie das Medienecho war, ob es seinen Vorstellungen entsprach oder nicht. Seine Sprachbilder und Allegorien faszinierten Freund und Feind. [...]

Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) abode by this motto all his life and shaped a complete epoch; with a „revolution from above”. His texts are a reflection of the politician’s political activities. For this reason they are in the focus of these exemplary discourse-linguistic studies. They confirm that Bismarck’s power of action was to a decisive degree mainly due to his communicative competence in combination with passion and perseverance. Posterity owes impressive “discourse pictures“ to his linguistic creativity, which not only shaped the political discourse of his time but have lost nothing of its original magic to this day, e.g. the allegory of Germany as a rider: „Let’s put Germany in the saddle so to speak. It will be able to ride“. Bismarck’s texts could be poetic but also express crushing criticism. In this way, the love letters written to his wife fascinate the reader still today because of their vivid language and emotionality.

They are also proof of the author’s sentimentality who time and again suffered from health problems such as „frictions and emotions”. Political enemies, however, were subjected to his sarcasm, his irony and his polemic. This book traces the interrelation of text and discourse and shows how the notorious blood and iron speech derived from „ferro et igni” and in the same way the „Ems Dispatch” from a telegram of the Prussian King.

Bismarck used his power position to win or consolidate the interpretation power. Political concepts and their implementation over a longer period became evident in distinctive „discourse lines”. With the help of such discourse lines, it was possible to show that Bismarck’s policies were characterised by continuity indeed, they also reflect changes in his ideas of politics. The consequences of the Bismarck legend include e.g. his „demystification“ in both German states and also the efforts to assess the life’s work of the Prussian statesman in a differentiated way. This book would like make a contribution to this too.

Ihr Werk im Verlag Dr. Kovač

Möchten Sie Ihre wissenschaftliche Arbeit publizieren? Erfahren Sie mehr über unsere günstigen Konditionen und unseren Service für Autorinnen und Autoren.

Veröffentlichen wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten