Critical Discourse Analysis of Competing Narratives in Egypt and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss3/Pt3.2117Keywords:
Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Nile Basin, securitization, postcolonial sovereignty, hydro-politicsAbstract
This article applies a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to the official Egyptian and Ethiopian media coverage of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)‚ published between 2011 and 2025․ The objective is to examine how those discourses are constructed‚ legitimized‚ and maintained through the linguistic practices of the major state-owned news media outlets in Egypt (Al-Ahram and Daily News Egypt) and Ethiopia (Addis Standard and The Reporter)․ Egypt professes that it views the dam as an existential threat‚ while Ethiopia sees its actions as an exercise of developmental sovereignty‚ anti-colonial struggle and fair utilization․ The latter is based on a perceived external framing by Egypt and the West as neocolonialism over the management of the Nile․ The study provides evidence for socio-political and symbolic strategies in addition to the rhetoric‚ and interprets the negotiation deadlock beyond techno-legal aspects․
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