Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
POLITICAL RHETORIC
Inhoud
Lecture 1: Introduction (02/10/2023)..............................................................................................................................5
The importance of political rhetoric............................................................................................................................6
What is rhetoric?..........................................................................................................................................................6
Political rhetoric...........................................................................................................................................................6
Warm-up exercise........................................................................................................................................................6
A diverse research field?..............................................................................................................................................8
Is rhetoric a bad/dangerous thing?..............................................................................................................................8
Rhetoric, a contested notion...................................................................................................................................8
Rhetoric was central to ancient democracy............................................................................................................8
1. Plato.....................................................................................................................................................................8
2. Aristotle................................................................................................................................................................9
3. Cicero...................................................................................................................................................................9
Rhetoric diminished when modern state emerged...................................................................................................10
4. Hobbes...............................................................................................................................................................10
5. Rousseau............................................................................................................................................................10
summarised............................................................................................................................................................11
Politics vs. the political...........................................................................................................................................11
Situating rhetoric.......................................................................................................................................................12
Lecture 2: Classical rhetoric – Discovery and arrangement (09/10/2023)....................................................................12
Occasions of speech...................................................................................................................................................12
The issue....................................................................................................................................................................13
Five “canons of speech”.............................................................................................................................................14
Logos......................................................................................................................................................................14
Ethos.......................................................................................................................................................................16
Pathos....................................................................................................................................................................17
Exercise on rhetorical discovery............................................................................................................................17
Possible answer:.....................................................................................................................................................17
Question.................................................................................................................................................................19
Exercise I (= part of exam question 2021).............................................................................................................20
Exercise II – Home exercise....................................................................................................................................22
1
,Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
Lecture 3: Classical rhetoric – Style and delivery + Rhetorical political analysis (16/10/23)........................................22
Classical rhetoric........................................................................................................................................................22
3. Style........................................................................................................................................................................23
Figures of speech.......................................................................................................................................................24
Schemes – repetition.................................................................................................................................................24
Schemes – playing with grammar/syntactic patterns...............................................................................................24
Schemes – interaction................................................................................................................................................25
Exercise - Schemes.................................................................................................................................................25
Tropes – Substitution (vervangingsmiddel)...............................................................................................................26
Tropes (stijlfiguren)....................................................................................................................................................27
Exercise – Schemes and tropes..............................................................................................................................27
4. Delivery..................................................................................................................................................................28
lecture 4: Rhetorical political analysis (RPA)..................................................................................................................29
Focus on ‘ideas’ (RPA)............................................................................................................................................30
Question of ‘agency’ (RPA)....................................................................................................................................30
How to do rhetorical political analysis (RPA).........................................................................................................31
Example RPA: speech Zelensky..............................................................................................................................32
Example RPA II: inaugural speech Kennedy (openende).......................................................................................33
Lecture 5: Mass media & rhetoric (23/10/23)...............................................................................................................33
The mediatization of politics......................................................................................................................................33
The media’s ambiguous role..................................................................................................................................35
What is news?........................................................................................................................................................35
News values...........................................................................................................................................................36
Why do politicians adapt?.....................................................................................................................................36
The rhetoric of politicians..........................................................................................................................................37
1.“Marketing”-model.............................................................................................................................................38
2.“Showbusiness”-model.......................................................................................................................................38
Exercise – Link with ancient classifications............................................................................................................38
The rhetoric of mass media itself..............................................................................................................................39
Media and cultural studies....................................................................................................................................39
Television news as rhetoric genre.........................................................................................................................40
“Episodic” vs. “thematic” framing.........................................................................................................................41
Exercise..................................................................................................................................................................41
“Episodic” vs. “thematic” framing.........................................................................................................................42
2
,Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
Media: curse or blessing for political rhetoric?.........................................................................................................43
guest lecture 1: incivility in political rhetoric.................................................................................................................44
Political negativity..................................................................................................................................................44
Why are politicians negative and uncivil?.............................................................................................................45
Are all politicians equally negative and uncivil?....................................................................................................45
Is negative or uncivil political communication on the rise?..................................................................................45
Key points...............................................................................................................................................................45
guest Lecture 1: Negativity & Incivility in Political Communication (6/11/23) Zeljko Poljak........................................46
Negativity in Political Communication?.....................................................................................................................46
Is all negativity the same?..........................................................................................................................................46
Negativity...............................................................................................................................................................47
Incivility as breakage of social norms of communication..........................................................................................47
Normative implications?........................................................................................................................................47
Why are politicians negative and uncivil?.................................................................................................................48
1. Win an election (vote-seeking)..........................................................................................................................48
2. Get power (office-seeking).................................................................................................................................49
3. Change policy (police-seeking)...........................................................................................................................49
Are politicians equally negative and uncivil?.............................................................................................................49
Strategy vs. Personality..........................................................................................................................................49
Is negative or uncivil political communication on the rise?......................................................................................50
Key points...................................................................................................................................................................51
Lecture 7: Emotions & reason (30/10/23).....................................................................................................................51
Emotions in rhetoric: antagonist to reason?.............................................................................................................51
2 different views of democracy.................................................................................................................................52
1.Deliberative democracy......................................................................................................................................52
philosophical comparison......................................................................................................................................53
2.Motivated reasoning...............................................................................................................................................54
Neuroscience.........................................................................................................................................................54
Example..................................................................................................................................................................55
The use of fear/enthusiasm appeals......................................................................................................................56
Emotional appeal of family metaphors.................................................................................................................56
Example: Motivated reasoning among politicians.................................................................................................57
Motivated reasoning driven by emotions..............................................................................................................59
Emotional rhetoric: curse or blessing?......................................................................................................................59
3
, Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
Example question exam.........................................................................................................................................60
guest lecture 2: protest rhetoric ( Ruud wouters).........................................................................................................61
Slogans & signs...........................................................................................................................................................61
Movements, Protest, Rhetoric & Persuasion: Theoretical framework.................................................................62
Persuasive by means of rhetoric............................................................................................................................64
WUNC as Protest Rhetoric.....................................................................................................................................65
Experiment1: protest & general citizens...................................................................................................................66
Experiment2: protest & decoding of the signal.........................................................................................................67
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................70
Lecture 9: Populist rhetoric (13/11/23).........................................................................................................................70
What is populism?......................................................................................................................................................70
Populism seems to remain a hot topic today........................................................................................................70
Populism as an ideology.........................................................................................................................................70
Diversity of populism.............................................................................................................................................71
Example..................................................................................................................................................................71
Populism as a communication style.......................................................................................................................72
“The people” as a rhetorical construct..................................................................................................................73
Style elements of populist rhetoric............................................................................................................................73
Patriotism/Invoking the heartland.........................................................................................................................74
Crisis rhetoric.........................................................................................................................................................74
Absolutism.............................................................................................................................................................74
Colloquial language................................................................................................................................................75
Emotionalization/negativism.................................................................................................................................75
Intimization............................................................................................................................................................75
Exercise on populist rhetoric.................................................................................................................................75
Exercise – Possible elements of answer................................................................................................................75
A very different example........................................................................................................................................76
The use of populist style elements........................................................................................................................76
Who uses populist rhetoric?..................................................................................................................................76
On what channels do politicians go populist?.......................................................................................................76
Populist rhetoric, simplistic rhetoric?........................................................................................................................77
populist language, simplistic language?................................................................................................................78
Example question exam.........................................................................................................................................78
Lecture 10: Gender & rhetoric (27/11/23)....................................................................................................................78
4
POLITICAL RHETORIC
Inhoud
Lecture 1: Introduction (02/10/2023)..............................................................................................................................5
The importance of political rhetoric............................................................................................................................6
What is rhetoric?..........................................................................................................................................................6
Political rhetoric...........................................................................................................................................................6
Warm-up exercise........................................................................................................................................................6
A diverse research field?..............................................................................................................................................8
Is rhetoric a bad/dangerous thing?..............................................................................................................................8
Rhetoric, a contested notion...................................................................................................................................8
Rhetoric was central to ancient democracy............................................................................................................8
1. Plato.....................................................................................................................................................................8
2. Aristotle................................................................................................................................................................9
3. Cicero...................................................................................................................................................................9
Rhetoric diminished when modern state emerged...................................................................................................10
4. Hobbes...............................................................................................................................................................10
5. Rousseau............................................................................................................................................................10
summarised............................................................................................................................................................11
Politics vs. the political...........................................................................................................................................11
Situating rhetoric.......................................................................................................................................................12
Lecture 2: Classical rhetoric – Discovery and arrangement (09/10/2023)....................................................................12
Occasions of speech...................................................................................................................................................12
The issue....................................................................................................................................................................13
Five “canons of speech”.............................................................................................................................................14
Logos......................................................................................................................................................................14
Ethos.......................................................................................................................................................................16
Pathos....................................................................................................................................................................17
Exercise on rhetorical discovery............................................................................................................................17
Possible answer:.....................................................................................................................................................17
Question.................................................................................................................................................................19
Exercise I (= part of exam question 2021).............................................................................................................20
Exercise II – Home exercise....................................................................................................................................22
1
,Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
Lecture 3: Classical rhetoric – Style and delivery + Rhetorical political analysis (16/10/23)........................................22
Classical rhetoric........................................................................................................................................................22
3. Style........................................................................................................................................................................23
Figures of speech.......................................................................................................................................................24
Schemes – repetition.................................................................................................................................................24
Schemes – playing with grammar/syntactic patterns...............................................................................................24
Schemes – interaction................................................................................................................................................25
Exercise - Schemes.................................................................................................................................................25
Tropes – Substitution (vervangingsmiddel)...............................................................................................................26
Tropes (stijlfiguren)....................................................................................................................................................27
Exercise – Schemes and tropes..............................................................................................................................27
4. Delivery..................................................................................................................................................................28
lecture 4: Rhetorical political analysis (RPA)..................................................................................................................29
Focus on ‘ideas’ (RPA)............................................................................................................................................30
Question of ‘agency’ (RPA)....................................................................................................................................30
How to do rhetorical political analysis (RPA).........................................................................................................31
Example RPA: speech Zelensky..............................................................................................................................32
Example RPA II: inaugural speech Kennedy (openende).......................................................................................33
Lecture 5: Mass media & rhetoric (23/10/23)...............................................................................................................33
The mediatization of politics......................................................................................................................................33
The media’s ambiguous role..................................................................................................................................35
What is news?........................................................................................................................................................35
News values...........................................................................................................................................................36
Why do politicians adapt?.....................................................................................................................................36
The rhetoric of politicians..........................................................................................................................................37
1.“Marketing”-model.............................................................................................................................................38
2.“Showbusiness”-model.......................................................................................................................................38
Exercise – Link with ancient classifications............................................................................................................38
The rhetoric of mass media itself..............................................................................................................................39
Media and cultural studies....................................................................................................................................39
Television news as rhetoric genre.........................................................................................................................40
“Episodic” vs. “thematic” framing.........................................................................................................................41
Exercise..................................................................................................................................................................41
“Episodic” vs. “thematic” framing.........................................................................................................................42
2
,Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
Media: curse or blessing for political rhetoric?.........................................................................................................43
guest lecture 1: incivility in political rhetoric.................................................................................................................44
Political negativity..................................................................................................................................................44
Why are politicians negative and uncivil?.............................................................................................................45
Are all politicians equally negative and uncivil?....................................................................................................45
Is negative or uncivil political communication on the rise?..................................................................................45
Key points...............................................................................................................................................................45
guest Lecture 1: Negativity & Incivility in Political Communication (6/11/23) Zeljko Poljak........................................46
Negativity in Political Communication?.....................................................................................................................46
Is all negativity the same?..........................................................................................................................................46
Negativity...............................................................................................................................................................47
Incivility as breakage of social norms of communication..........................................................................................47
Normative implications?........................................................................................................................................47
Why are politicians negative and uncivil?.................................................................................................................48
1. Win an election (vote-seeking)..........................................................................................................................48
2. Get power (office-seeking).................................................................................................................................49
3. Change policy (police-seeking)...........................................................................................................................49
Are politicians equally negative and uncivil?.............................................................................................................49
Strategy vs. Personality..........................................................................................................................................49
Is negative or uncivil political communication on the rise?......................................................................................50
Key points...................................................................................................................................................................51
Lecture 7: Emotions & reason (30/10/23).....................................................................................................................51
Emotions in rhetoric: antagonist to reason?.............................................................................................................51
2 different views of democracy.................................................................................................................................52
1.Deliberative democracy......................................................................................................................................52
philosophical comparison......................................................................................................................................53
2.Motivated reasoning...............................................................................................................................................54
Neuroscience.........................................................................................................................................................54
Example..................................................................................................................................................................55
The use of fear/enthusiasm appeals......................................................................................................................56
Emotional appeal of family metaphors.................................................................................................................56
Example: Motivated reasoning among politicians.................................................................................................57
Motivated reasoning driven by emotions..............................................................................................................59
Emotional rhetoric: curse or blessing?......................................................................................................................59
3
, Political Rhetoric 2024-2025 Hannah Collins
Example question exam.........................................................................................................................................60
guest lecture 2: protest rhetoric ( Ruud wouters).........................................................................................................61
Slogans & signs...........................................................................................................................................................61
Movements, Protest, Rhetoric & Persuasion: Theoretical framework.................................................................62
Persuasive by means of rhetoric............................................................................................................................64
WUNC as Protest Rhetoric.....................................................................................................................................65
Experiment1: protest & general citizens...................................................................................................................66
Experiment2: protest & decoding of the signal.........................................................................................................67
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................70
Lecture 9: Populist rhetoric (13/11/23).........................................................................................................................70
What is populism?......................................................................................................................................................70
Populism seems to remain a hot topic today........................................................................................................70
Populism as an ideology.........................................................................................................................................70
Diversity of populism.............................................................................................................................................71
Example..................................................................................................................................................................71
Populism as a communication style.......................................................................................................................72
“The people” as a rhetorical construct..................................................................................................................73
Style elements of populist rhetoric............................................................................................................................73
Patriotism/Invoking the heartland.........................................................................................................................74
Crisis rhetoric.........................................................................................................................................................74
Absolutism.............................................................................................................................................................74
Colloquial language................................................................................................................................................75
Emotionalization/negativism.................................................................................................................................75
Intimization............................................................................................................................................................75
Exercise on populist rhetoric.................................................................................................................................75
Exercise – Possible elements of answer................................................................................................................75
A very different example........................................................................................................................................76
The use of populist style elements........................................................................................................................76
Who uses populist rhetoric?..................................................................................................................................76
On what channels do politicians go populist?.......................................................................................................76
Populist rhetoric, simplistic rhetoric?........................................................................................................................77
populist language, simplistic language?................................................................................................................78
Example question exam.........................................................................................................................................78
Lecture 10: Gender & rhetoric (27/11/23)....................................................................................................................78
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