A Functional Analysis of the Finnish 2012 Presidential Elections

Abstract

This study applied the functional theory of political campaign discourse, developed for political campaigns in the United States to two televised presidential debates in the 2012 presidential elections in Finland. Acclaims were the most preferred statement by the candidates, with agreements being the least preferred. Policy was discussed more than character during the debates. General goals and ideals were used more frequently to acclaim than to attack. Results are generally consistent with the results of previous studies of presidential elections in the US and other countries. However, differences did emerge: the classical functional categories were supplemented by a new category, the role of the moderator as an attacker in the debate is emphasized, the significance of the diminishing role of the Finnish Presidency is of significance, and the fact that one of the two candidates was the first openly homosexual presidential candidate likely influenced the debates and the election.

The Psychology of Leadership Destabilization: An Analysis of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Debates

“…This body of work includes analyses of political discourse conveyed through various mediums, such as keynote speeches (e.g., Benoit et al, 2000), news releases (e.g., Cho & Benoit, 2005), televised interactions (e.g., Benoit & Compton, 2014), debates (e.g., Rill & Benoit, 2013), and direct mail advertisements (e.g., Benoit, 2017). The theory is also supported by analyses of political elections in numerous countries outside the United States, namely Australia (Benoit & Benoit‐Bryan, 2014), Finland (Paatelainen, Croucher, & Benoit, 2016), Germany (Maier & Jansen, 2017), Israel (Benoit & Sheafer, 2006), Romania (Drăgan, 2016), Slovakia (Hrbková & Zagrapan, 2014), South Korea (Choi, Lee, & Lee, 2004), Taiwan (Benoit, Wen, & Yu, 2007), Ukraine (Benoit & Klyukovski, 2006), and the United Kingdom (Benoit & Benoit‐Bryan, 2013).…”

Functions of Hybrid Media: How Parties and Their Leaders Use Traditional Media in Their Social Media Campaign Communication

“…(2007) functional theory of campaign discourse, which argues that election candidates use three functions-acclaims, attacks, and defenses-to appear preferable to other candidates. The applicability of functional theory to Finnish political culture has been criticized in the past, as Finnish political discussions include elements that do not belong to any of these categories (Isotalus, 2011;Paatelainen et al, 2016). Therefore, additional categories were created inductively during the analysis process through a close reading of the data.…”

“…( 2007) functional theory of political campaign discourse formed the basis for our functional analysis. Previously, the theory was applied in the analysis of the 2006 (Isotalus, 2011) and 2012 Finnish presidential debates (Paatelainen et al, 2016). In this study, we applied a modified version of the theory, which included only the main communicative functions and disregarded the subcategories of policy and character.…”

A Functional Analysis of Visual and Verbal Symbols in Presidential Campaign Posters, 1828–2012

“…Functional Theory has been employed to shed light on a variety of campaign messages including presidential candidacy announcement speeches (Benoit et al 2008), nomination acceptance addresses (Benoit 2014b;Benoit et al 1999), nomination convention keynote speeches (Benoit, Blaney, and Pier 2000), American presidential primary and general debates (Benoit 2014c;Benoit et al 2002), U.S. presidential primary and general television spots (Benoit 2014a), presidential direct mail advertising (Benoit and Stein 2005), American vice presidential debates (Benoit and Airne 2005), nonpresidential debates (Benoit 2014c;Benoit, Brazeal, and Airne 2007;Benoit, Henson, and Maltos 2007), nonpresidential television spots (Benoit 2014a;Benoit and Airne 2009;Brazeal and Benoit 2006), and non-U.S. debates (Benoit 2014c;Benoit and Benoit-Bryan 2013;Paatelainen, Croucher, and Benoit 2016). Because posters are distinctly visual in nature, this study advances Functional Theory by extending it in an exploratory analysis of visual symbols used in presidential campaign posters.…”