Topoi in the F35 fighter debate: A closer look at the Norwegian Armed Forces rhetoric and how it’s met in opinion pieces

Abstract

This thesis has looked at the Norwegian Armed Forces rhetorical situation and their use of topoi to argue that the F35 fighter is the best choice for Norway’s defense capacities, and how this use of topoi was met in opinion pieces and political debate. Mainly two research questions were asked “What is the rhetorical situation of the Norwegian Armed Forces in the acquisition of F35, and does this shape their use of topoi” and “How are the Norwegian Armed Forces use of topoi met in opinion pieces and political debate?”. Through analysis of the rhetorical situation in short, we can say that the main exigence, or intrusive problem where found to be that the fighters costs so much money that it has to be justified and that it can influence the NAFs legitemacy, their audience was for the most part the public while younger audiences where targeted to help recruit new skilled workers. Some important constraints where the issue of security of information, and the support for peace in the public. This could have influenced their topoi to recruit and to defend the acqusition. Topoi that were used by the NAF where mostly upgrade/comparison and focused on the technological aspects, while the opinion pieces and political debate where characterised by economical topos often arguing that the acquisition would force other branches of the NAF to get less money.