The Language of Politics

This book presents a collection of studies on political interviews in a variety of broadcast media worldwide. Following the growing scholarly interest in media talk as a dominant form of political communication in contemporary society, a number of eminent international scholars analyze empirical material from the discourse of public figures and interviewer–journalists to address questions related to the characteristics, conduct, and potential effects of political interviews. Chapters span a varied array of cultural contexts: the U.S.A., U.K., Israel, Japan, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Australia, Philippines, Finland, Brazil, Malaysia, Spain, Venezuela, Montenegro, and the European Community, enabling a comparison of the different structures and contents of political interviews in societies from West to East. Authors bring an interest in discourse and conversation analysis, as well as in rhetorical techniques and strategies used by both interviewers and interviewees, from different disciplinary viewpoints including linguistic, political, cultural, sociological, and social–psychological. In doing so, the book develops a framework to assess the extent to which media political interviews and talk shows, and regular news programs, play a central role in transmitting accurate and genuine political information to the general public, and how audiences can make sense of these programs’ output.

This edited book is an innovative collection of studies—pioneering scholarship systematically exploring the various features of debasement language used by political leaders in their speeches, statements, and remarks during parliamentary and other official as well as unofficial, private activities. The book examines in particular the forms, functions, and effects of political debasement in Western and non-Western countries, including Spain, Malaysia, the UK, Japan, China, India, Montenegro, Greece, Poland, and Israel. It addresses the growing interest in recent years in issues related to the increase of debasement in the public sphere. These include high-echelon politicians’ invective and vulgarity toward their colleagues in houses of parliament; their abusive and cynical language toward sections of the public, including women and minorities; and their crude sarcasm and irony expressed toward media representatives. The book focuses on those instances where political leaders at the very highest-level employ debasement discourse; it identifies the specific language they use in different political cultures and under different situations; the reasons for using this type of language; and its consequences. The book brings together a team of distinguished political scientists, communication and linguistics researchers, and social and political psychologists, with expert backgrounds and experience in understanding the reciprocal interaction between language and politics, in this case: debasement. They discuss and provide a number of novel insights of theoretical and practical importance regarding debasing discourse, as well as potential avenues for future research on the nature and effect of this type of language.

This book is a companion to Political Debasement: Incivility, Contempt, and Humiliation in Parliamentary and Public Discourse. It brings together interdisciplinary contributions to provide a comprehensive and detailed exploration of the nature, function, and effect of debasement language used by selected political leaders in Western and non-Western countries. Among them are Donald Trump (in the USA), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey), Rodrigo Roa Duterte (Philippines), Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Abe Shinzô (Japan), Pauline Hanson (Australia), Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Greece), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands), Beppe Grillo (Italy), and Santiago Abascal (Spain). Chapters focus specifically on the language of these leaders while examining debasement discourse from narrow and broad perspectives. The former includes the use of crude or abusive language (e. g., curses, obscenity, and swearing) to demean, humiliate, mock, insult, or belittle, based on the actual or perceived object or entity (e. g., race, religion, national, gender identity, or sexual orientation); the latter includes the use of devious or indirect irony, sarcasm, cynicism, ridicule, subtlety, and understatement to degrade and discredit other individuals or groups. The book represents the collective wisdom of scholars and researchers, experts in fields such as communication, political science, international relations, and social and political psychology. Cumulatively, the authors develop a global analysis of debasement discourse in societies from West to East and offer a cutting-edge approach to expand a framework assessing the role and effect of such rhetoric in contemporary politics.

This book presents a new approach to the analysis of political psychology, political culture, and communication.

Using data from Japanese political interviews and parliamentary deliberations, it reveals how Japanese politicians address their audience. In addition to analyzing the use of verbal political rhetoric, the book shows that nonverbal communication is highly relevant as well. In a context where political leaders are becoming increasingly important, identifying the techniques used by Japanese politicians – especially facial expressions, hand gestures, and other forms of body language – to gain support from the audience, leads us to consider communication practices of political leaders around the world. Politicians adopt different communication styles based on their specific electoral system. The more single-seat constituency political candidates use rhetoric, the greater their chance of appealing to voters. In addition, the use of personal experiences and others' speech quotations function as effective political rhetoric, further attracting the audience’s attention. In short, this book presents a more comprehensive and holistic picture of political “rhetoric” than usually offered by other studies of political communication.

The goal of this book is to show the role of TikTok as a tool for political purposes. To this end, the authors analyse the messages posted on this social medium by political figures and institutions such as politicians and political parties, their impact on political landscapes, as well as the transformation of political communication techniques in order to suit the platform’s features. 

In the last two years, the exponential growth of TikTok has led an increasing number of politicians and institutions to incorporate it into their communication strategies. The platform displays some very different features from other social media that determine the way in which the content is presented. In addition, it manages to reach an audience that normally does not access or share political messages.

Within this context, the volume pursues two main objectives. First, to examine how the communication techniques and the peculiarities of this social medium – where short videos with actors in informal attitudes prevail – affect the political message. A second objective is to analyse the influence of the messages distributed through TikTok that redefine political scenarios, and of the relationships of politicians and parties with voters. The core of the book comprises case studies that are organised into three parts, with nine chapters in all.

The authors are scholars and practitioners of political communication, with diverse geographical representation, who approach the topics from a range of methodological perspectives. The first part addresses the state of the art and the influence of TikTok features on the way political communication is performed. The second part discusses the influence of TikTok on electoral scenarios and political culture in India, Bangladesh, the United States, and Ecuador. Finally, in the third part, TikTok is analysed as an instrument for promoting far right politicians and parties in Europe, as in the case of Matteo Salvini in Italy, and AfD in Germany and Vox in Spain.

The volume is oriented to both scholars and communication professionals, such as journalists, communication consultants, and speechwriters, who want to become familiar with the platform, learn about its political impact, or wish to deepen their understanding of transformations in communication techniques and their adaptation to this growing social medium.

This collection of original chapters reflects the increasing interest over the past few decades in the relationship between political humor (as a distinct form of political discourse) and a country’s culture: Beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and processes that are affected, shaped by, and related to historical experiences, socialization processes, social structure, religion, the economic system, and majority/minority relations. Written by contributors from various fields of study – political science, communication, linguistics, sociology, culture studies, and political psychology – the book looks at the central role played by “culture” in shaping and affecting the sundry aspects of political humor, including satire and parody. The chapters, focusing on diverse countries such as the USA, UK, Greece, Philippines, Israel, Poland, Italy, and Spain, as well as ethnic groups, offer a comprehensive overview of political humor as used by public figures, including politicians, artists, performers, as well as comedians, talk shows hosts and the general public. By presenting fresh perspectives on the relationship between culture and political humor as employed during political debates in parliament, in media interviews and shows, on the internet and in art, the book opens up new avenues for discussion regarding the factors that shape political humor across the globe in a variety of political and media systems.

This anthology of studies is a follow-up to Political Humor Worldwide: The Cultural Context of Political Comedy, Satire, and Parody . It further examines political humor as a distinct sub-discipline of political communication, influenced and shaped by a country’s culture. The book’s contributors, experts drawn from the academic fields of political science, communication, linguistics, sociology, culture studies, political psychology, and others, offer an assortment of studies from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on political humor in the media, the authors offer a panorama of political humor—including political satire, parody, and cartooning—in Spain, Poland, Montenegro, Turkey, Japan, Australia, Iran, Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, and Indonesia, among others. They detail political humor’s multifaceted and versatile nature, suggesting that national culture and political humor expressed in the news media are intertwined; thus, understanding political humor requires looking at the cultural landscape of a given country or society. The book helps readers to better understand the factors that shape political humor across the globe in a variety of political and media systems. 

This book presents a collection of studies related to populism in contemporary political discourse. Following growing scholarly interest in the topic, this volume offers a wide panorama on the discursive construction of populism across the political spectrum worldwide. International experts from different backgrounds provide a comprehensive analysis of populist communication in present-day politics. Each chapter in the book constitutes a case study from a different country, altogether offering a global perspective on the construction of populism in political discourse. In particular, the book presents studies from fourteen different countries across the globe: Belgium, France, Spain, the United States of America, Portugal, Montenegro, Italy, Ghana, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Japan, Russia, Poland, and Israel. Here, readers can (1) get acquainted with discourse on populism in the media; (2) have access to ample descriptions of populist communication strategies across frontiers; (3)explore populist discourse by contemporary societies’ well-known political leaders from different countries; and (4) examine the intertwining of populism, policymaking, and religion. Rooted in different frameworks, the various chapters offer a comprehensive understanding of the complex phenomenon of populism. The volume also enables the reader to globally grasp similarities and differences in the way populist discourse is built from West to East. International and interdisciplinary approaches form the cornerstone of this volume that will appeal to scholars from diverse academic backgrounds.