Power Relations between Egypt and the United States as Demonstrated in the Opening Plenary Speeches of the Egyptian President and the American Secretary of State during Egypt Economic

Power Relations between Egypt and the USAA Theoretical Framework18

Power Relations between Egypt and the United States as Demonstrated in the Opening Plenary Speeches of the Egyptian President and the American Secretary of State during Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) Held in 2015 A Contrastive Analysis within the Critical Discourse Analysis Framework

Lobna Khaled MohamedTerm Paper Submitted for the Applied Linguistics CourseDr. Ghada Abd Al AzizFaculty of Al-Alsun Ain Shams UniversityApril 2015

OutlineI. Introduction

A. Topica. Overall view of research papers topicb. Overall view of political situations of USA and Egypt

B. Objectivesa. Using Critical Discourse Analysis as a framework to highlight Power relations and dominance between two countries:1. Egypt2. USAb. Deciding on Functional Grammar as a tool to analyze two speeches and demonstrate power relations and dominance as two main concepts.c. Analyzing two speeches delivered at the economic conference in Egypt.

C. Dataa. Classification of datab. Source of data1. Remarks at the Opening Plenary of the Egypt Economic Development Conference addressed by Abd Al Fattah Al Sisi, Egyptian President.2. Remarks at the Opening Plenary of the Egypt Economic Development Conference addressed by John Kerry, American Secretary of State.c. Significance of the data

II. Methodology

A. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)a. General Overviewb. Focus of this research : Power and Dominance

B. Structural Functional Grammar (SFG)a. General Overviewb. Main focus of functional grammar applied on the data of this research paper

III. Application

A. FindingsB. ResultsC. Conclusion

TopicOne important field of critical research on discourse, language, and power is that of political discourse. Therefore, this is a contrastive linguistic study exploring and analyzing two speeches delivered by two political figures, the Egyptian President Abd Al Fattah Al Sisi and the American Secretary of State John Kerry, to see how both speeches revealed the concept of Power.The United States strategy in the Middle East is mainly rooted in the hegemonic interests in stable and secure oil market, in addition to the ideological commitment towards the state of Israel. Therefore, USA has been interfering in the Middle Easts affair since the early part of the Cold War to prevent anyone regional or extra-regional from gaining regional hegemony by maintaining defensive force over the horizon, as Dr.Nicholas Spark has stated. Despite of the confusion and cautious approach the USA is adopting since the rise of the Arab Spring events, yet the USA, represented in the Obama administration, insist on ensuring its dominance and power in the region, and insists that the new regimes in the region will have to proceed its work with the United States.

On the other hand, Egypt as one of the leading countries in the Middle East region has passed through many events since the 25th of January revolution. From Mubaraks stepping down, to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces receive of Power, the change of prime ministers, the constitutional referendum, the presidential elections, Muslim Brotherhoods winning elections, Parliament election, and last the 30th of June revolution; Egypt is now trying to re-gain balance and power. Hence, came the Egypt Economic Development Conference(EEDC) as a determined attempt on Egypts side to re-gain its power on the local, regional, and international levels.ObjectivesThis study aims at highlighting the ideologies of power and dominance of the Egyptian and American policies as demonstrated in two of the remarks at the plenary of Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC), given by Al Sisi and Kerry. The speech given by Al Sisi showed that Egypt is defying USAs power and shows the countrys endeavors to re-gain power. Whereas, the speech given by Kerry was to assure that USA is maintaining its power and dominance over developing countries. This study uses the Transitivity theory that comes under the experiential approach of Functional Grammar. From the experiential perspective, language includes a set of resources that refer to entities in the world and the ways these entities relate to each other and act. Hence, language reflect our view of the world as consisting of goings-on (Verbs), involving things (nouns), which may have attributes (adjectives), and which go on against background details of place, time, manner, etc. (adverbials). So with Functional labels, a clause is analyzed in terms of processes that involve participants in certain circumstances. (Thompson, 1996). According to Thompson (1996) once more, the term transitivity does not only distinguish between verbs according to their accompaniment with objects or not, but it is a way for describing the whole clause. It focuses mainly on the verbal group that is the center of the clause. It refers to verbs as Processes that can be divided into three main types (Material, Mental, and Relational) and three subtypes (Verbal, Behavioral, and Existential) each with a different core meaning and different participants labels.

DataThe data under investigation is two speeches: one delivered by Abd Al Fattah Al Sisi, the Egyptian president, and the other one delivered by the American Secretary of State, John Kerry. Both speeches were remarks at the opening plenary of the Egypt Economic Development Conference, held at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, on March 13, 2015. Al Sisis speech was the first speech to be delivered at the conference and was delivered in Arabic language. The number of words of this speech is 2058 words. Whereas, Kerrys speech came after a number of other speeches; and his was delivered in English Language. The number of words of this speech is 1341 words.One significant reason to choose these two speeches in particular, is Egypts leading role in the region and considering this economic event as a starting point of the New Egypt after the many occurrences that took place following both the 25th of January and 30th of Junes revolutions.

Critical Discourse AnalysisAccording to van Dijk, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse research that mainly examines the way dominance, inequality and social power abuse are playing roles, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in both social and political contexts. Critical analysis of conversation is very different from the analysis of news reports in the press. Most kinds of CDA questions the way certain discourse structure are used in the reproduction of social and political dominance. van Dijk proceeds that one main question of why critical discourse analysis is important is to know power differences. (van Dijk, 2001)Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), according to Fairclough, has three main properties. First, it is Relational as it mainly focuses on social relation not entities or individuals. Second, it is Dialectical. Fairclough describes dialectical relations as those relations between objects that are different from one another, but not disconnected like Power and Discourse. He then adds that CDA is not analysis of discourse in itself, but is analysis of dialectical relations between discourse and other elements as well as analysis of the internal relations of discourse. In order to analyze such relations, CDA needs to cut across conventional boundaries between disciplines like Linguistics, Politics, Sociology, and so forth. Hence, Fairclough prefers to call this form of analysis a Transdisciplinary one.Wodak and Meyer (2009), state that studies in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are multifarious derived from different theoretical orientations and utilizing different data and methodologies. In addition, CDA researchers depend on various grammatical approaches. Hence, the definitions of the terms Discourse, Critical, Ideology, and Power and so on are manifold.One central concept in CDA is that of Power. According to Wodak and Meyer Power is central for understanding the dynamics and specifics of control (of action) in modern societies. The concepts of Power and Dominance utilized in this paper are mainly not of social relationships, but the power and dominance of a nations and countries; particularly those of developing countries, like Egypt and developed countries, like the United States.

Functional GrammarAccording to Thompson (1996), Functional Grammar aims to examine what the range of relevant choices are on the levels of meanings that we intend to deliver (functions we want to perform) and wordings we can utilize to express these meanings; in addition to matching these two sets of choices. Therefore, in order to recognize meaning choices, we look at the context and linguistic options (lexical and structural possibilities) in addition to exploring what meaning each option expresses. Thompson then assures that through functional analysis we intend to discover the reasons behind the speakers production of a particular wording rather than any other in a certain context. One of the main implications of this functional view of language is that context and language are mutually dependent. At a broader level, our own experiences in the world directly affect the subjects we talk about and how we talk about them.Therefore, the approach adopted in this study is the same as that of Thompsons. This is a grammatical based text analysis of the above-mentioned speeches. We will be examining why each of the speakers is expressing this particular meaning in this particular way at this particular point.

FindingsEgyptian Presidents Remarks at the Opening Plenary of the Egypt Economic Development Conference:Material Processes

ActorMaterial ProcessGoal

- ()

Material ProcessActor

- ()

GoalMaterial ProcessActor

- ()


- ()


- ( )

Material ProcessMaterial ProcessActor



GoalActorMaterial Process

- ()


Mental Processes - ( )

Mental ProcessesSenser

- ( )


- ( )

PhenomenonMental ProcessesSenser

- ( )


Behavioral Processes- ()

Behavioral processBehaver

Behavioral processBehaver

The American Secretary of States Speech:Material ProcessesThe American peopleAre committed toThe security and political and economic wellbeing of the Egyptian people

ActorMaterial Process

We (Americans)Will workWith you (Egyptians)

ActorMaterial Process

HowIt (Egypt)RestructuresIts economy

ActorMaterial Process Goal

It (Egypt)Will also affectMillions of others

ActorMaterial ProcessGoal

We (Americans)Are already making progress


Our qualifying zone program1.Has already spurredMore than 800 millionIn Egypt exports to USA


2.And supported280,000 Egyptian jobs

Material Process Goal

He (Al Sisi)Has already takenImportant stepsOn macroeconomic reform


He (Al Sisi)Just signedA new investment law


Mental ProcessesWe allKnowThat there are challenges

SenserMental process

Through those challengesWeUnderstandThe extra-ordinary potential

SenserMental processPhenomenon

Al SisiUnderstandsthat


EgyptNeedsTo grow


The USAisVery eagerTo build on this progress


I (Kerry)KnowThat it will be followed by


Verbal ProcessesAl SisiTalksAbout the open, inclusive, and transparent growth

SayerVerbal process

Al SisiHas already demonstratedthat

SayerVerbal process

Al SisiannouncedAnti-corruption initiative

SayerVerbal process

IPromiseYou (Egyptians)

SayerVerbal process

Relational ProcessesEgyptisa critical partof the Arab world

IdentifierRelational processIdentifiedcircumstance

Wehave a stakein Egypts success

PossessorRelational processPossessedcircumstance

ResultsIn his speech, Al Sisi uses three categories of processes: material, mental, and behavioral processes. During the speech, Al Sisi stressed that there are six main goals the actors Egypt, its people, government, and economy seek, which are " " " " " " " " .Egypt is presented as an actor four times, Egypt the modern state an actor three times, Egypts people , the government , and Egyptian economy each was presented as an actor once.Second, Al Sisi spoke about Egypt as a modern state accompanied with positive mental processes three times:" " " " " "In addition to the mental process rejecting the phenomenon of . Last, Egypt was presented as a behaver welcoming , and .On the other hand, in his speech, Kerry uses four types of processes: material, mental, relational, and verbal. First, Kerry presents Americans and their qualifying zone program as actors four times whom their goals were: the security and political and economic wellbeing of the Egyptian people, 800 million dollars in Egyptian exports and 280000 Egyptian jobs. Moreover, Egypt was presented as an actor twice with the processes: restructures and will affect; and the goals economy and millions of others. Also, Al Sisi was represented as an actor twice as taking important steps and signed a new investment law.Second, four mental processes were used in Kerrys speech: know was mentioned twice, understands was mentioned once, and is eager to build on that progress. Kerry also stressed that Egypt needs to grow four times, and mentioned that Al Sisi understands that.Third, Kerry identified Egypt as as critical part of the Arab world, and stressed that Americans we are possessors have a stake in Egypts success. Last, Al Sisi was represented as a sayer three times in Kerrys speech: talks, demonstrated, and announced ; and Kerry himself a sayer once: I promise you.

ConclusionIn conclusion, in both speeches the USA and Americans are not presented as taking action except for five times; while Egypt, its people, government and economy were represented as actors twelve times. Egypt is represented as a country that was always powerful historically " " " "The pivotal role Egypt has played in this region for so longThe Arab world cant do with Egypt

and that is currently seeking to continue as powerful, effective, and of values through its people and government:".. .. .. .. .. .. .. "Egyptian citizens are positively presented:" " " " " "And that is so clear when Al Sisi proudly announces:" "And when Kerry praised the effort of the Egyptian people:What Egyptians struggled to achieve in 2011 was the real birth of opportunity and not an illusion

References1. Al-Sisi, A. (2015, March 13). / . Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.sis.gov.eg/Ar/Templates/Articles/tmpArticleNews.aspx?ArtID=103207#.VSbfDuF8ual2. Fairclough, N. (1995). General introduction. In Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: Longman.3. Kerry, J. (2015, March 13). Remarks at the Opening Plenary of the Egypt Economic Development Conference. Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/03/238872.htm 4. Kitchen, N. (n.d.). The Contradictions of Hegemony: The United States and the Arab Spring.5. Thompson, G. (1996). The purpose of linguistic analysis. In Introducing functional grammar. London: Arnold6. Van Dijk, T. (2001). 18 Critical Discourse Analysis - Teun A. van Dijk. Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Critical discourse analysis.pdf7. Wodak, R. (2009). Methods of critical discourse analysis (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE.

Appendix I

Egyptian Presidents Remarks at the Opening Plenary of the Egypt Economic Development Conference:

13 2015

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. " .. ". .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. 2030 .. .. .. .. .. : : .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . : .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 6 10 . : .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. 4 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. 40 .. 30 .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .

Appendix II

The American Secretary of States Speech:Remarks at the Opening Plenary of the Egypt Economic Development ConferenceJohn KerrySecretary of StateSharm el-Sheikh, EgyptMarch 13, 2015

Mr. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, its a privilege to be here with you today, and your majesties, your highnesses, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.Mr. President, in so many ways, it is clear that your initiatives are already affirming the pivotal role Egypt has played in this region for so long. Weve heard a number of the speakers refer to it. And I want to thank you for your partnership and for your obvious readiness to tackle some very tough issues. There are an extraordinary number of very thoughtful, very experienced leaders, particularly of the corporate sector but also of government here, and they come from all over the world. Im particularly pleased that some of the biggest companies in America are also here and that all of you together represent billions of dollars of investment.So I come here today, Mr. President, with a very simple message: The American people are committed to the security and political and economic wellbeing of the Egyptian people, and we will work with you; we will work with you to absolutely secure the ambitious and important goals, the vision that you have laid out here today.There is absolutely no question that the emergence of a strong, prosperous, democratic Egypt is critical for the development of a strong and prosperous region. And Egypt, as a number of speakers have also alluded to, has historically been the regions most important incubator of ideas. And this does go back to the earliest days of civilization. Egypt constitutes one-quarter of the Arab worlds population. But we also heard one of our distinguished friends from the Emirates, I think, say that Egypt also is a critical part of the Arab world and the Arab world cant do without Egypt; its symbiotic. How Egypt fares in the coming years and how it restructures its economy will affect not only the countrys nearly 90 million citizens, but it will also affect millions of others throughout the region who aspire to a better future. That is why we are gathered here: We all all of us have a stake in Egypts success, and all of the Middle East needs to see that what Egyptians struggled to achieve in 2011 was the real birth of opportunity and not an illusion.That is why the United States is committed to supporting Egypts economic reforms, and I think that we can already see from what is happening that those are taking hold. Im pleased to tell you also that before this conference was conceived, we in the United States shared the sense of the need for this economic transformation. And so last year, under the auspices of the United States Chamber of Commerce, 160 CEOs, leading business people representing some 70 countries 70 companies came here to spend time with President al-Sisi and his administration in order to help define the future. We are already making progress laying down specific projects that will support economic growth, entrepreneurship, and job creation, especially for the agribusiness and tourism sectors. Weve committed some 300 million for the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund and another 250 million for OPIC loans to guarantee to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses. And just our Qualifying Industrial Zone program has already spurred more than 800 million in Egyptian exports to the United States last year and supported 280,000 Egyptian jobs. Thats in addition to a billion dollars of loan guarantee, 500 million dollars of recent investment by The Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, others who are deeply committed to this enterprise.We all know also that there are challenges. And yet every single one of us are here because through those challenges we see and understand the extraordinary potential. There is a possibility of innovation, a possibility of attracting investment, a possibility of working together on an agenda of opportunity that literally creates the sustainable economy that President al-Sisi talks about, the open, inclusive, and transparent growth that is critical to attract capital.So there are about four things that are critical to that, very quickly. First, Egypt needs to grow sustainably. And President al-Sisi understands that and hes already taken important steps on macroeconomic reform. The United States is very eager to build on this progress by supporting the governments engagement with international financial institutions, including the IMF; efforts to improve cash management, lower debt, deficits, increase tax revenue, and reduce costly subsidies in a way that protects the poorest citizens. And as we all know, sustaining and strengthening these reforms will require courage and political will, and it is evident that President al-Sisi has already demonstrated that and is prepared to make those choices.Secondly, Egypt needs to grow openly and accountably. President al-Sisi, again, deserves enormous credit for working to improve the basic business climate in Egypt. He just signed a new investment law, and that will create a one-stop shop for business which eliminates the bureaucracy, reduces the paperwork, streamlines the decision making, and allows capital to take hold and begin to work quickly. This is a very important step, and I know that it will be followed by the additional work to provide sanctity of contracts, mechanisms for dispute resolution, and protections for intellectual property rights.Third, Egypt obviously needs to grow inclusively, and President al-Sisi is committed to that. A central demand of the revolution of 2011 was a more equal distribution of wealth. And that requires a commitment to empowering young people to fulfill their dreams, to meet their aspirations, and women also in order to promote a free and active and independent civil society.And finally, Egypt needs to grow transparently. We all know that foreign investors require assurance of accountability, certainty, assurance that reforms are both comprehensive and long-term. And immediately after taking office, President Sisi announced anti-corruption initiatives, and we strongly support his government in that effort. No one is injured more than companies and by the way, no one country is immune to any country immune to any of these challenges. But no one is more injured because of them than the very companies that were trying to attract in order to develop in the ways that we want to.Ultimately, economic growth and political development go hand in hand, and that is how you build the strong society. Economic growth, widely shared, can help to ease any disagreements that characterize the openness of governance. And at the same time, the protection of individual rights and impartial administration of justice helps create the conditions for lasting investment and growth that benefits all Egyptians.So, yes, there are challenges, and many of them have been alluded to by other speakers here. But the road ahead is absolutely clear and so is the United States determination to support Egypts progress in any way that we can. Let me make one statement about that. And that includes, in the effort to stand up and fight against extremists and terrorists, the one thing we know is here at this conference we stand in direct contradiction to the nihilism that they present. They want to destroy and go back in time. We want to build and go to the future, and thats what this conference is about. And no political philosophy, no ideology, no politics, and certainly no religion can excuse the grotesque, unbelievable descent into chaos that those extremists are willing to provoke. Nothing excuses the killing of innocent women, children, villagers, people anywhere nothing.So thats what makes this frankly, this conference so important, because this is one of the most important tools in our toolbox to be able to embrace that future. Out of this conference must come a renewed commitment to fully empower Egypts entrepreneurs and innovators as well as provide for greater economic opportunity not just for some Egyptians, but for all Egyptians. And I promise you, directly from President Obama and from this Administration, the full commitment of the United States in this journey towards security, shared prosperity, and peace that the Egyptian people both desire and deserve. Thank you.

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Power Relations between Egypt and the United States as Demonstrated in the Opening Plenary Speeches of the Egyptian President and the American Secretary of State during Egypt Economic