POLITICAL RETHORIC
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 The importance of political rhetoric ............................................................................... 3
1.2 What is rhetoric? ........................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Political rhetoric?........................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Warm-up exercise.......................................................................................................... 3
1.5 A diverse research field? ................................................................................................ 4
1.6 Is rhetoric a bad/dangerous thing? ................................................................................. 4
2 Ancient rhetorical classifications and techniques ......................................................... 8
2.1 Occasions of speech ....................................................................................................... 8
2.2 The issue ....................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Four (five) canons of speech........................................................................................... 9
2.4 Discovery (detection) of the argument (1) ...................................................................... 9
2.5 Arrangement of the argument (2) ................................................................................ 11
2.6 Style (3) ....................................................................................................................... 12
2.7 Delivery and memory (4) ............................................................................................. 15
3 Mass media & rhetoric .............................................................................................. 16
3.1 The mediatization of politics ........................................................................................ 16
3.2 The rhetoric of politicians ............................................................................................ 17
3.3 The rhetoric of mass media .......................................................................................... 18
3.4 Media: curse or blessing for political rhetoric?.............................................................. 20
4 Research methods in political rhetoric ....................................................................... 21
4.1 Rhetorical political analysis (RPA) ................................................................................ 21
4.2 Quantitative content analysis ...................................................................................... 24
4.3 Experimental research ................................................................................................. 25
4.4 Other methods ............................................................................................................ 26
5 Emotion & incivility ................................................................................................... 26
5.1 Perspectives on emotions in rhetoric............................................................................ 26
5.2 Incivility in politics ....................................................................................................... 29
5.3 Emotional rhetoric: curse or blessing? .......................................................................... 30
6 Guest lecture by Eran Amsalem – Integrative complexity .......................................... 31
6.1 Background: what is political persuasion? .................................................................... 31
6.2 Context: a changing political rhetoric ........................................................................... 31
1
, 6.3 Framework: integrative complexity .............................................................................. 31
6.4 Theoretical model........................................................................................................ 32
6.5 Experimental tests of the model .................................................................................. 32
6.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 34
7 Guest lecture Yves Dejaeghere - Deliberative democracy........................................... 36
7.1 Democracy as a puzzle? ............................................................................................... 36
7.2 What answers do we have now and what might be some ailments with it? ................... 38
8 The rhetoric of populist leaders and parties ............................................................... 39
8.1 What is populism? ....................................................................................................... 39
8.2 Elements of populist rhetoric ....................................................................................... 41
8.3 Use of populist rhetoric ............................................................................................... 44
9 Gender & rhetoric ...................................................................................................... 46
9.1 Gender inequality in political rhetoric .......................................................................... 46
9.2 Feminism and rhetoric ................................................................................................. 48
9.3 Gender roles as a means to persuade ........................................................................... 50
10 Visuals in rhetoric .................................................................................................. 51
10.1 Intermezzo: survey experiment by master students Polcom .......................................... 51
10.2 The importance of visuals ............................................................................................ 52
10.3 Visuals & media access ................................................................................................ 53
10.4 Visuals & media control ............................................................................................... 53
10.5 Image as argument ...................................................................................................... 54
10.6 Conveying logos........................................................................................................... 54
10.7 Conveying ethos .......................................................................................................... 54
10.8 Conveying pathos ........................................................................................................ 55
10.9 The psychology of visuals ............................................................................................. 55
10.10 Journalistic bias in the visuals? ................................................................................. 56
2
,1 Introduction
1.1 The importance of political rhetoric
• The art of persuasion
• No politics without persuasion
• Reason: uncertainty
• Persuasion by speech vs. persuasion by force
o Vote for the party = not forced → you accept the power
▪ Makes regimes last longer <-> persuasion by force
• The fundamental political skill
1.2 What is rhetoric?
• Greek: ‘retoriketekhne’
o Rhetor = speaker
o Tekhne = art
• Studying rhetoric
o learning the practical skills of persuasion
o studying the persuasiveness of speech → the analyse
• No limited to spoken words (oratory)
o Written word, visuals
1.3 Political rhetoric?
• Many areas of thetorical studies
o E.g. Law, organization studies
• Persuasion in the political realm
• Not limited to politicians!
o E.g. activists (movements or humans like Greta T.), the media through which
politicians communicate, journalists
• “What makes a political speech persuasive (or not)?”
1.4 Warm-up exercise
• “Most famous persuasive speech in history”
→ Martin Luther King – I have a dream
• Activist leader of civil rights movement
• August 1963
• March on Washington for jobs and freedom
• 100 years after Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln)
o End of slavery
• Elements
o Slow talking
o Comparison to history (bad times)
o The place: capital
o Rights of ‘every American’
o Every state is being mentioned → he addresses the speech to you
o Repetition: “Now is the time”, “I have a dream”
o My friends
o Rhythmic, rhyme
o Metaphors
3
, o Allusions (= an indirect reference to a person, event or thing -> evoke visuals)
o Humour
o Arousal of emotion
o His credibility as a person
▪ Who he is → children → it’s also his issue
o Displaying eloquence, expertise (references to history…)
1.5 A diverse research field?
• Different backgrounds, different questions
o Linguistics (rhetorical figures)
o Psychology (emotions vs. the cognitive)
o Political science (questions of power)
o Communication science (mass media)
• Each with their own terminology & research methods
• Difficulty: they don’t always talk with each other
• This course: eclectic approach (different traditions)
1.6 Is rhetoric a bad/dangerous thing?
1.6.1 Rhetoric, a contested notion…
• Words often associated with rhetoric: ‘mere’ ; ‘empty’
o Rhetoric is contrasted with reality e.g. What companies say what their priorities are
aren’t really their priorities
o Association with danger
▪ polarisation – e.g. attack on capital because of the rhetoric of Trump
▪ rhetoric can be false e.g. anti-vaccine misinformation
▪ → people can be persuaded of anything e.g violence
• At the same time: no democracy without free speech?
1.6.2 Rhetoric was central to ancient democracy
• Greece, 500 B.C.
• From aristocracy to democracy (from small elite to ordinary people (farmers) debate)
o Demos = people
o Ekkledia: the assembly where everyone gathered to discuss
o Highly participatory system
▪ Status of being citizen comes with obligations
o Rhetorical skills were important (everyone had to do it not only politicians)
o Teachers: sophists
▪ Sophos = wisdom
▪ E.g. Gorgias, Protagoras
o Culture of oral transmission
o Different views of classical thinkers
• Plato
o Belief in one moral ‘truth’: 100% clear what is good and bad but only few know this
▪ Allegory of the cave
• we as people live in a cave with a fire behind us, all that we see are
shadows from things outside of the cave
• only people who are smart can go out of the cave and see the real
things
4
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 The importance of political rhetoric ............................................................................... 3
1.2 What is rhetoric? ........................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Political rhetoric?........................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Warm-up exercise.......................................................................................................... 3
1.5 A diverse research field? ................................................................................................ 4
1.6 Is rhetoric a bad/dangerous thing? ................................................................................. 4
2 Ancient rhetorical classifications and techniques ......................................................... 8
2.1 Occasions of speech ....................................................................................................... 8
2.2 The issue ....................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Four (five) canons of speech........................................................................................... 9
2.4 Discovery (detection) of the argument (1) ...................................................................... 9
2.5 Arrangement of the argument (2) ................................................................................ 11
2.6 Style (3) ....................................................................................................................... 12
2.7 Delivery and memory (4) ............................................................................................. 15
3 Mass media & rhetoric .............................................................................................. 16
3.1 The mediatization of politics ........................................................................................ 16
3.2 The rhetoric of politicians ............................................................................................ 17
3.3 The rhetoric of mass media .......................................................................................... 18
3.4 Media: curse or blessing for political rhetoric?.............................................................. 20
4 Research methods in political rhetoric ....................................................................... 21
4.1 Rhetorical political analysis (RPA) ................................................................................ 21
4.2 Quantitative content analysis ...................................................................................... 24
4.3 Experimental research ................................................................................................. 25
4.4 Other methods ............................................................................................................ 26
5 Emotion & incivility ................................................................................................... 26
5.1 Perspectives on emotions in rhetoric............................................................................ 26
5.2 Incivility in politics ....................................................................................................... 29
5.3 Emotional rhetoric: curse or blessing? .......................................................................... 30
6 Guest lecture by Eran Amsalem – Integrative complexity .......................................... 31
6.1 Background: what is political persuasion? .................................................................... 31
6.2 Context: a changing political rhetoric ........................................................................... 31
1
, 6.3 Framework: integrative complexity .............................................................................. 31
6.4 Theoretical model........................................................................................................ 32
6.5 Experimental tests of the model .................................................................................. 32
6.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 34
7 Guest lecture Yves Dejaeghere - Deliberative democracy........................................... 36
7.1 Democracy as a puzzle? ............................................................................................... 36
7.2 What answers do we have now and what might be some ailments with it? ................... 38
8 The rhetoric of populist leaders and parties ............................................................... 39
8.1 What is populism? ....................................................................................................... 39
8.2 Elements of populist rhetoric ....................................................................................... 41
8.3 Use of populist rhetoric ............................................................................................... 44
9 Gender & rhetoric ...................................................................................................... 46
9.1 Gender inequality in political rhetoric .......................................................................... 46
9.2 Feminism and rhetoric ................................................................................................. 48
9.3 Gender roles as a means to persuade ........................................................................... 50
10 Visuals in rhetoric .................................................................................................. 51
10.1 Intermezzo: survey experiment by master students Polcom .......................................... 51
10.2 The importance of visuals ............................................................................................ 52
10.3 Visuals & media access ................................................................................................ 53
10.4 Visuals & media control ............................................................................................... 53
10.5 Image as argument ...................................................................................................... 54
10.6 Conveying logos........................................................................................................... 54
10.7 Conveying ethos .......................................................................................................... 54
10.8 Conveying pathos ........................................................................................................ 55
10.9 The psychology of visuals ............................................................................................. 55
10.10 Journalistic bias in the visuals? ................................................................................. 56
2
,1 Introduction
1.1 The importance of political rhetoric
• The art of persuasion
• No politics without persuasion
• Reason: uncertainty
• Persuasion by speech vs. persuasion by force
o Vote for the party = not forced → you accept the power
▪ Makes regimes last longer <-> persuasion by force
• The fundamental political skill
1.2 What is rhetoric?
• Greek: ‘retoriketekhne’
o Rhetor = speaker
o Tekhne = art
• Studying rhetoric
o learning the practical skills of persuasion
o studying the persuasiveness of speech → the analyse
• No limited to spoken words (oratory)
o Written word, visuals
1.3 Political rhetoric?
• Many areas of thetorical studies
o E.g. Law, organization studies
• Persuasion in the political realm
• Not limited to politicians!
o E.g. activists (movements or humans like Greta T.), the media through which
politicians communicate, journalists
• “What makes a political speech persuasive (or not)?”
1.4 Warm-up exercise
• “Most famous persuasive speech in history”
→ Martin Luther King – I have a dream
• Activist leader of civil rights movement
• August 1963
• March on Washington for jobs and freedom
• 100 years after Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln)
o End of slavery
• Elements
o Slow talking
o Comparison to history (bad times)
o The place: capital
o Rights of ‘every American’
o Every state is being mentioned → he addresses the speech to you
o Repetition: “Now is the time”, “I have a dream”
o My friends
o Rhythmic, rhyme
o Metaphors
3
, o Allusions (= an indirect reference to a person, event or thing -> evoke visuals)
o Humour
o Arousal of emotion
o His credibility as a person
▪ Who he is → children → it’s also his issue
o Displaying eloquence, expertise (references to history…)
1.5 A diverse research field?
• Different backgrounds, different questions
o Linguistics (rhetorical figures)
o Psychology (emotions vs. the cognitive)
o Political science (questions of power)
o Communication science (mass media)
• Each with their own terminology & research methods
• Difficulty: they don’t always talk with each other
• This course: eclectic approach (different traditions)
1.6 Is rhetoric a bad/dangerous thing?
1.6.1 Rhetoric, a contested notion…
• Words often associated with rhetoric: ‘mere’ ; ‘empty’
o Rhetoric is contrasted with reality e.g. What companies say what their priorities are
aren’t really their priorities
o Association with danger
▪ polarisation – e.g. attack on capital because of the rhetoric of Trump
▪ rhetoric can be false e.g. anti-vaccine misinformation
▪ → people can be persuaded of anything e.g violence
• At the same time: no democracy without free speech?
1.6.2 Rhetoric was central to ancient democracy
• Greece, 500 B.C.
• From aristocracy to democracy (from small elite to ordinary people (farmers) debate)
o Demos = people
o Ekkledia: the assembly where everyone gathered to discuss
o Highly participatory system
▪ Status of being citizen comes with obligations
o Rhetorical skills were important (everyone had to do it not only politicians)
o Teachers: sophists
▪ Sophos = wisdom
▪ E.g. Gorgias, Protagoras
o Culture of oral transmission
o Different views of classical thinkers
• Plato
o Belief in one moral ‘truth’: 100% clear what is good and bad but only few know this
▪ Allegory of the cave
• we as people live in a cave with a fire behind us, all that we see are
shadows from things outside of the cave
• only people who are smart can go out of the cave and see the real
things
4
