trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

IdentificationRhetorical analyses may involve many perspectives, but the one I chose as especially interesting in thiscontext concerns the identification thesis of Kenneth Burke. In one of his main works, A Rhetoric ofMotives, Burke focuses on the concepts of identification and persuasion. Burke suggests thatidentification is the most central concept in rhetoric and a prerequisite for successful persuasion (Burke1969, xiii). The identificational viewpoint involves focusing on the ways people rhetorically group/conceive themselves and the others. It helps us to see whether the voices of North and South form theirown separate groups or attempt to “open themselves”, cross the barrier and form a ”global we” to actdespite the afflictive inequality issues and differing worldviews.Burke's concept of 'identification' can be described as follows: ”A is not identical with his colleague,B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is identified with B. Or he may identify himself with B evenwhen their interests are not joined, if he assumes that they are, or is persuaded to believe so.” (Burke1969, 20.) The audience's identification with the speaker means that the audience not only receives butalso participates in the assertions which leads to collaborational feelings (Burke 1969, 57-58.). This is themost important point for the negotiational context: the feeling of collaboration enhances the possibilitiesfor real teamwork between negotiators and for successful results.In international climate negotiations, there are two main types of identification that can take placebetween negotiators. Barrier-crossing identification occurs when the North and South seem to overcometheir differences and acknowledge, or partially acknowledge, their shared interests or attitudes: thisidentification is crucial for successful results. The counterpart is the barrier-blocking identification,which takes place inside either North or South, excluding ”the other side”. Barrier-blockingidentification occurs also when the speaker is identified only with his own nation or continent. Barrierblockingidentification is not beneficial for successful agreements or negotiations; it may even diminishthe possibilities.Division is identification's natural counterpart (Burke 1969, 22-23). It has been often stated that oneof the major obstacles in climate negotiations is the tension between the North and South stemmingfrom developmental issues (for example Roberts & Parks 2006). This division between North and Southis taken as the acknowledged starting point for this paper. Barrier-blocking identification means thedivision in the context of climate negotiations.It must be kept in mind that we cannot know the speaker's intentions for sure and they are better leftoutside the analysis. However, this problem is not very crucial here: the relevant question concerns theaudience's comprehensions of the speeches. As a researcher, the best position I can get is to relate myselfto a kind of “mediocre listener”, trying to understand both the North and South perspectives.2. ResultsIssue 1: The seriousness of climate changeIn a negotiation or public discussion certain participants often have the power and ability to define thedebate and therefore turn it to their side: as Michael Bruner and Max Oelschlaeger state in their article,139