The Language of Globalization: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Economic and Trade Policies

Abstract

The study focuses on a language of economic and trade policy and applies CDA to how globalization is constructed in these documents, specifically the policy documents of the World Trade Organizations. The research analyses how discursive strategies are used to produce globalization, reflect neoliberalism and reproduce power relations in a study of World Trade Organization agreements, International Monetary Fund reports, and bilateral trade agreements. The language in how it enshrines and reproduces power differentials is examined through metaphors, lexical choices, framing strategies, and modality. Discourse reproduces the global power relations and discerns specific countries and economic actors as winners, according to the studies. It enhances our understanding of the ways economic issues are linguistically constructed, and the part played by economic language in the construction of the world economy and perceptions of economic globalization.