THE LANGUAGE OF POLITICSThe Power of Political Speeches

Overview What is power? What is politics? How power is used in political speeches

using: Coercion Resistance Dissimulation (De)legitimisation

What is Power?

Power is conceptually “seen to negatively influence others’ behaviour or force people to perform acts which they wouldn’t undertake by themselves.”

(Bower and Martin, 2007, pp. 84-85)

Power is viewed differently by different individuals in different settings

What is Politics?

Ethics-concerned with the best government and values for society

Control and power- irrational and unpredictable behaviour. (Chilton, 2004)

Fairclough argues that it is more effective to exercise power through the manufacture of consent rather to force it. This is done through persuasion and the establishment of a dominant ideologies.

(Fairclough, 1989)

Strategies that help constitute a specific discourse community Coercion- ways, including commands and agenda

setting, of making assumptions about realities that hearers are forced to accept, at least temporarily.

Resistance, opposition and protest- slogans, rallies etc. that resist existing power structures.

Dissimulation- concerned with the control of information through euphemisms and so on.

(De)Legitimisation- where actors assert their right to be obeyed as legitimate actors; it invests authority in the actor and delegitimisation projects negatively other-representation.

(Chilton & Shaffner, 1997)

Context of text

Based on Phil Goff’s State of Nation Speech (2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyYPa2XcQkI)

Outlining Labours plan for a fairer tax system including a tax free zone if voted in.

Coercion

“They’re getting squeezed because our economy is stagnating and the National Government has done nothing to grow incomes and our export economy.”

“I guarantee everyone will be treated fairly whether you live on main street, struggle street, or easy street.”

“Labour will not sell state-owned assets. National would. If they got a second term, they would see off the family silver- our public assets like power companies- to pay for their debt.”

Resistance

“I’ll tell you what we won’t be doing to pay for it. We won’t be borrowing it. Nationals doing that already.”

“Labour will not do that. We don’t need more Kiwi assets to be hooked off overseas.”

“Labour supports savings; National doesn’t. We ran budget surpluses; National is borrowing for tax cuts. Labour brought in KiwiSaver; National gutted it.”

Dissimulation

“Unemployment is up by 50,000 since the National government took office. That is 68 jobs everyday. That’s 68 families everyday who have lost a breadwinner. We are going backwards.”

“I want to explain some of the options we are exploring to cover the cost.”

“We need to reward people who build our economy rather than those who make money by creating nothing.”

(De)legitimisation

“Our economy is stagnating and the National government has done nothing to grow incomes and our export economy…when John Key said just before the election ‘National would not be increasing GST’ they believed him. He broke that promise.”

“Those who live on easy street won’t be able to dodge tax as we will get rid of loopholes for tax dodgers and cut back tax avoidance.”

“I have announced that we will axe the GST on fresh fruit and vegetables. Not just nationals 2.5% increase but the whole 15%.”

Conclusion

Power is conceptually seen to negatively influence others behaviour or force people to perform acts which they wouldn’t undertake by themselves.

Politics can be seen as having two sides

Power is used in politics is through four key elements.

References

Chilton, P. (2004). Analysing political discourse: Theory and practice. London: Routledge.

Chilton, P., & Shaffner, C. (1997). Discourse and politics. In T. V. Dijk (Eds.),

Discourse as social interaction (pp. 206-230). London: Sage.

Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London: Longman.