Security andSovereignty: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Regional Stability and Homeland defense in Masrour Barzani’s Discourse

Abstract

This study scrutinizes how the political language of Masrour Barzani has developed and legitimized the narratives of security, sovereignty, Homeland defense, and regional peace in the Kurdistan Region. This study explores the linguistic and ideological strategies employed to shape public perceptions of authority, unity, and national resistance in ways that are typically regarded as internal socio-political phenomena rather than external conflict. The study explores the extent to which political language weaponizes security and stability as cornerstones of national identity and governance under a lens of political sensitivity and regional complexity. The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) study is grounded on the key socio-cognitive model provided by Teun A. van Dijk, integrating three analytical levels: first: discourse structures, linguistic devices like modality and personal hyperbole are used; second: cognitive models, ideological models as the positive self-representation and the negative other-representation are employed; and third: social practices, analyses how discourse produces power relations and social control. This multi-level framework enables the examination of the interrelationship between the way Barzani uses discourse to both reflect and construct social realities and mental representations. Using this approach, the research reveals how discourse both embodies and constructs cognitive beliefs and social power relations. It is concluded that Masrour Barzani frames ideological representations about leaders, people and enemies in a way that legitimizes Kurdish leadership, advocates for a united Kurdish front, and preserves resilience through the use of discourse. Furthermore, his speech incorporates this larger communal identity, centered on regional stability and the constitutionality of his rule, pre-conditioning public consciousness for the provision of justifications and the establishment of a lasting peace in the Homeland.