Papers by Bernhard Forchtner
Given the increasing number of public admissions of wrongdoing by official representatives of sta... more Given the increasing number of public admissions of wrongdoing by official representatives of states, other institutions and individuals, as well as the subsequent scholarly attention directed to this phenomenon, this thesis investigates one potential misuse of such practices. Here, I take Albert Camus' novel The Fall as a starting point and ask if such admissions cannot ultimately be directed against 'others' through rhetorics of judge-penitence. Such an argumentative pattern aims to project the in-group as a penitent sinner which has faced its dark past and thus learnt the lessons provided by history. This creates, in turn, the possibility to construct an 'other' discursively as having failed to do so, i. e. as being morally inferior. Utilising Critical Discourse Analysis in the context of the debate over the Iraq crisis in 2002/3 in three European countries - Germany, Austria and Denmark - I focus on the (mis)use of self-critical references to the Holocaust an...
The fictionalisation of politics
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2016
The nascent field of Memory Studies emerges from contemporary trends that include a shift from co... more The nascent field of Memory Studies emerges from contemporary trends that include a shift from concern with historical knowledge of events to that of memory, from 'what we know' to 'how we remember it'; changes in generational memory; the rapid advance of technologies of memory; panics over declining powers of memory, which mirror our fascination with the possibilities of memory enhancement; and the development of trauma narratives in reshaping the past. These factors have contributed to an intensification of public discourses on our past over the last thirty years. Technological, political, interpersonal, social and cultural shifts affect what, how and why people and societies remember and forget. This groundbreaking new series tackles questions such as: What is 'memory' under these conditions? What are its prospects, and also the prospects for its interdisciplinary and systematic study? What are the conceptual, theoretical and methodological tools for its investigation and illumination? More information about this series at
Given the increasing number of public admissions of wrongdoing by official representatives of sta... more Given the increasing number of public admissions of wrongdoing by official representatives of states, other institutions and individuals, as well as the subsequent scholarly attention directed to this phenomenon, this thesis investigates one potential misuse of such practices. Here, I take Albert Camus' novel The Fall as a starting point and ask if such admissions cannot ultimately be directed against 'others' through rhetorics o f judge-penitence. Such an argumentative pattern aims to project the in-group as a penitent sinner which has faced its dark past and thus learnt the lessons provided by history. This creates, in turn, the possibility to construct an 'other' discursively as having failed to do so, i.e. as being morally inferior. Utilising Critical Discourse Analysis in the context of the debate over the Iraq crisis in 2002/3 in three European countries-Germany, Austria and Denmark-I focus on the (mis)use of self-critical references to the Holocaust and World War II in general. Through a qualitative analysis of particularly argumentative sections of broadsheet newspapers in each of these countries, the study illustrates the, albeit restricted, existence of such a phenomenon as well as its varieties. By exploring Maurice Halbwachs' notions of collective memory, (non-)constructionist approaches aiming to explain the rising significance of admissions of wrongdoing and Charles S. Peirce's semiotics in the context of the public sphere, I explain the influence of different historical contexts and national narratives on the existence and realisation of rhetoric(s) of judge-penitence. By applying Jurgen Habermas' Critical Theory when elaborating the moral significance of memory, I theoretically justify normative evaluations of both admissions of past wrongdoing and their rhetorical misuse. In conclusion, and going beyond my chosen test cases, the thesis illuminates how admissions of wrongdoing may be (mis)used in political discourse.
Critical discourse studies and social theory
Scepticisms and beyond? A comprehensive portrait of climate change communication by the far right in the European Parliament
Environmental Politics, Mar 25, 2022
Extreme Right
Routledge eBooks, Feb 2, 2023
This article emphasises a need to devote more attention to concepts and theories in Critical Disc... more This article emphasises a need to devote more attention to concepts and theories in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). We are particularly eager to emphasise that CDS theory of the second decade of 2000s-often known as the post-crisis era or as the period of 'late neoliberalism'-faces a number of challenges that are both real-world (social) and academic in nature. On the one hand, CDS theory must be reconsidered from the point of view of socio-political challenges and the necessity to tackle new (public and private) discourses as well as their trajectories that no longer undergo the once long-standing socio-political or politico-economic dynamics. On the other hand, we see the need for embracing new ways of theorising and conceptualising discourse in late modernity in the wider landscape of the social theories and their engagement with discourse. The article emphasises the need to address some voices that come from beyond the 'core' CDS community with the aim to enrich CDS theory by ideas that would help us move the latter beyond its foundations and face socio-political and academic challenges ahead.
The Rhetoric of Penitence
The third rhetoric of learning conceptualised by Forchtner is the rhetoric of penitence. This rhe... more The third rhetoric of learning conceptualised by Forchtner is the rhetoric of penitence. This rhetoric draws on our past wrongdoing, which is supposed to prevent our wrongdoing in the present. He describes the subject which arises out of this narrative as a penitent sinner who remembers our wrongdoing which, while not preventing stability as such, does nevertheless demand criticism of its past and present. This rhetoric enables a post-heroic, ironic outlook. It is committed to a set of values connected to continuous reform but also nurtures some discomfort and denies the subject the pleasure of innocence and complacency. It is a mode which potentially allows for even greater levels of reflexivity than in the rhetoric of failing by provoking more fundamental decentring of the subject.
Chapter 7. Legitimizing the Iraq War through the genre of political speeches: Rhetorics of judge-penitence in the narrative reconstruction of Denmark’s cooperation with Nazism
In Albert Camus’ novel The Fall, the main character Jean-Baptiste Clamance introduces himself as ... more In Albert Camus’ novel The Fall, the main character Jean-Baptiste Clamance introduces himself as a judge-penitent, following the motto “[t]he more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you”. In this chapter, I operationalize such behavior in order to understand the strategy of persuasion used by Denmark’s then Prime-Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen when he legitimized the Iraq-invasion in 2003. In contrast to self-righteous myths, Rasmussen did so by self-critically addressing the policy of Danish collaboration with Nazi-Germany during World War Two. He thereby became able to claim, like Clamance, to have learnt the lessons from history, thus occupying the moral high ground from which he discursively constructed the opponents of the invasion as being morally inferior.
Review of Social Theory in the Twentieth Century and Beyond
Review of:Baert, Patrick and Silva, Filipe Carreira da (2009 Social Theory in the Twentieth Centu... more Review of:Baert, Patrick and Silva, Filipe Carreira da (2009 Social Theory in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Polity Press: Cambridge
Environmental Communication-a Journal of Nature and Culture, Jun 8, 2018
This article explores climate-change communication by the German far right-spanning a continuum w... more This article explores climate-change communication by the German far right-spanning a continuum which ranges from anti-liberal democracy radical-right populists, to the extreme right and to antidemocratic neo-Nazis-and asks: how do these actors articulate the phenomenon of climate change? In responding to this question, we conduct a discourse network analysis which identifies relations between actors, objects, phenomena and processes, and point out differences/similarities across a continuum of exemplary far-right sources. The investigated actors put forward a rather skeptical climate change narrative, even though differences exist as the significance attached to the Volk and its sovereignty, rooted in far-right ideology, sometimes overrides, and sometimes is in harmony with, their ideological-driven affinity with nature protection. We thus contribute to the growing body of knowledge on climate-change communication and, more specifically, on the link between ideology and climate-change skepticism.
The Nature of Nationalism: Populist Radical Right Parties on Countryside and Climate
Nature and Culture, Jun 1, 2015
This article inquires into how contemporary populist radical right parties relate to environmenta... more This article inquires into how contemporary populist radical right parties relate to environmental issues of countryside and climate protection, by analyzing relevant discourses of the British National Party (BNP) and the Danish People's Party (DPP). It does so by looking at party materials along three dimensions: the aesthetic, the symbolic, and the material. The article discusses to what extent the parties' political stances on environmental issues are conditioned by deeper structures of nationalist ideology and the understandings of nature embedded therein. It illustrates a fundamental difference between the way nationalist actors engage in, on the one hand, the protection of nature as national countryside and landscape, epitomizing the nation's beauty, harmony and purity over which the people are sovereign. On the other hand, they deny or cast doubt on environmental risks located at a transnational level, such as those that relate to climate. The article argues that this apparent inconsistency is rooted in the ideological tenets of nationalism as the transnational undermines the nationalist ideal of sovereignty.
The far right and climate obstruction
Routledge eBooks, Nov 3, 2022
Critical discourse studies and social theory 1
Routledge eBooks, Jul 6, 2017
Routledge eBooks, Sep 10, 2019
Beyond the ‘German Forest’
Routledge eBooks, Sep 10, 2019
Discourse & Society, Mar 16, 2016
This article emphasises a need to devote more attention to concepts and theories in Critical Disc... more This article emphasises a need to devote more attention to concepts and theories in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). We are particularly eager to emphasise that CDS theory of the second decade of 2000s-often known as the post-crisis era or as the period of 'late neoliberalism'-faces a number of challenges that are both real-world (social) and academic in nature. On the one hand, CDS theory must be reconsidered from the point of view of socio-political challenges and the necessity to tackle new (public and private) discourses as well as their trajectories that no longer undergo the once long-standing socio-political or politico-economic dynamics. On the other hand, we see the need for embracing new ways of theorising and conceptualising discourse in late modernity in the wider landscape of the social theories and their engagement with discourse. The article emphasises the need to address some voices that come from beyond the 'core' CDS community with the aim to enrich CDS theory by ideas that would help us move the latter beyond its foundations and face socio-political and academic challenges ahead.
The foundations of climate obstruction
Routledge eBooks, Nov 3, 2022
Patterns of Prejudice, May 16, 2019
In this article, Forchtner investigates the construction of an 'ideal', extreme-right, ecological... more In this article, Forchtner investigates the construction of an 'ideal', extreme-right, ecologically sensitive subject. A concern for the natural environment is in no way new to the extreme right, and has long been part of its ideological make-up. In particular, claims that the laws of nature are applicable to the social world and that a community is embedded in an ecosystem have long been features of a right-wing ecological imaginary. Through an analysis of all the articles on a paradigmatic ecological issue, biodiversity, published in Germany's exemplary extreme-right magazine preoccupied with ecology, Umwelt & Aktiv (Environment & Active), this cultural imaginary is reconstructed. Included in it as key themes are human responsibility for environmental degradation, the ecological value of flora and fauna, and criticism of modernity's levelling tendencies (both biologically and culturally). Taking responsibility for the community's Heimat (homeland) is, consequently, a crucial element for this subject: a subject who aims for purity, order and the stability of ecosystems.
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Papers by Bernhard Forchtner