This article examines whether the speeches given by Donald Trump after his election have become more presidential since his election campaign speeches in 2016. Four speeches, selected from both...Show moreThis article examines whether the speeches given by Donald Trump after his election have become more presidential since his election campaign speeches in 2016. Four speeches, selected from both before and after the 2016 elections, have been analysed and compared in two different ways. The speeches selected from before the elections were Trump’s announcement of his run for the presidency and his acceptance of the Republican nomination. The selection of post-election speeches consisted of the first speech Trump gave to a joint session of congress in his official appearance as president and his first official SOTU address. The first manner of comparison used Pennebaker et al’s (2007) Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) programme. The second manner of comparison analysed the speeches for their differences in their use of rhetorical and stylistic figures. The analysis showed that the speeches given by Trump before his 2016 election were less complex, more divisive and less positive than those given after his election. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the use of stylistic devices in the pre-election speeches was more focused on emphasising problems, whereas post-election they were used more to emphasise achievement and to embellish the speech itself. This suggests that there has been a visible change in style between the two periods, which indicates that Trump’s speeches have become more like those of his predecessors.Show less
This research analyses three speeches by President Xi Jinping to examine the narrative he creates around the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The outcome of the study is twofold. Firstly, the...Show moreThis research analyses three speeches by President Xi Jinping to examine the narrative he creates around the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The outcome of the study is twofold. Firstly, the findings suggest that the Chinese government creates a narrative of continuity in China’s foreign policy by appealing to China’s soft power, including Chinese history and cultural values. Second, the speeches form an invitation to the world to adhere to China’s principles and follow its path of development.Show less
In the context of the Euromaidan and subsequent unrests leading to a war in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, this thesis examines the speeches of the country´s president, Petro Poroshenko...Show moreIn the context of the Euromaidan and subsequent unrests leading to a war in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, this thesis examines the speeches of the country´s president, Petro Poroshenko in the first 6 months of his presidency, the second half of 2014. This paper attempts to provide the answer to the following issues, employing critical discourse analysis as the methodology: it examines which form of nationalism, ethnic or civic, is more prevalent in the speeches. Moreover, it identifies the main themes and evaluates Poroshenko´s nation building mission while providing a chapter on the history of these contested forms of nationalism in Ukraine to offer a wider background of the examined issues. This study concluded that the prevalent form of nationalism is civic nationalism and identified anti-Russian rhetoric, the European path and using the war in Donbass as a means of uniting the people as the main topics. However, Poroshenko´s nation-building is defensive rather than proactive. It is largely based on anti-Russian narrative and the current war, but does not offer a viable and sustainable vision of nation-building in a long run, indicating that president Poroshenko is, like his predecessors, unable to resolve the internal division of Ukraine and create a strong national identity which would likely allow Ukraine to improve its economic and political situation.Show less
Alliance politics and securitisation theory have been studied and theorised. However, research on a possible link between these fields remains absent. Yet, when we look at prevalent alliance theory...Show moreAlliance politics and securitisation theory have been studied and theorised. However, research on a possible link between these fields remains absent. Yet, when we look at prevalent alliance theory by Walt, we see that security and threat perceptions play a great role in the formation and persistence of state alliances. We would then expect that the discursive construction of these threats would too. This research takes the “special relationship” between the United States and Israel and their most recent rift over a nuclear Iran as its case study. Other than most analyses of the construction of threat within foreign policy discourse, this research aims to trace interaction between two converging or diverging formal state discourses. A Post Structuralist discourse analysis of formal speeches given by Netanyahu and Obama on policy towards Iran will show that over the eight years of their simultaneous leadership, interaction between their respective discourses increased and took an a more direct form. Results thereby illustrate that securitisation discourse should perhaps more often be studied as not simply emanating from and interacting with the domestic realm. It is not simply a dialogue between leadership and a respective domestic audience. Obama and Netanyahu are also required to legitimate their foreign policy options towards one another and both of their domestic audiences.Show less
