Prime Ministers and Rhetorical Governance

Abstract

Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership seeks to gather some of the best work on political leadership broadly defined, stretching from classic areas such as executive, legislative and party leadership to understudied manifestations of political leadership beyond the state. Edited by an international board of distinguished leadership scholars from the United States, Europe and Asia, the series publishes cutting-edge research that reaches out to a global readership.

Thickening Rhetorical Political Analysis with a Theory of Distance: Negotiating the Greek Episode of the Eurozone Crisis

“…Political speeches by leaders are the most obvious example. The ability to persuade other political actors and the public has always been a crucial skill for leaders in seeking to gain, use, and hold on to power on a day-to-day basis (Tulis, 1987;Grube, 2013), and in parliamentary debate (Reid, 2014). Rhetorical techniques contribute to the persuasive power of ideologies, relevant for both public sphere debates and within party organisations (Dommett, 2014;Atkins, 2015).…”

Sticky words? Towards a theory of rhetorical path dependency

“…Important recent works have begun to address this lacuna. There have been studies of the relationship between rhetoric and leadership, including theoretical work and comparative work in the United Kingdom and Australia, and on the role of rhetoric in shaping political debates and perceptions of leaders (Atkins et al 2014;Bennister 2013;Finlayson and Martin 2008;Grube 2013;Kane and Patapan 2010;Martin 2015;Rolfe 2008;Toye 2011;Uhr and Walter 2014a;Young 2007).…”

“…For example, political leaders must reach out to a range of different audiences in their rhetoric, and this will affect their choice of arguments and how they are presented. Leaders have different rhetorical roles to play at different times to different audiences (Grube 2013). These are important factors that may influence the overall 'success' of a particular rhetorical gambit, even whilst they may have little impact on whether a particular rhetorical formulation takes on path-dependent qualities.…”

Capturing Desire: Rhetorical Strategies and the Affectivity of Discourse

“…Instead, terms such as 'ideology' or 'discourse' are preferred in order to locate speech in a wider cultural frame, one for which power relations are regarded as integral. However, rhetorical analysis is now undergoing a resurgence in political studies and, while still compatible with other approaches, usefully directs attention to particular moments of discursive encounter (see Finlayson 2007;Grube 2013;Atkins et al 2014;Martin 2014). This is, in part, due to rhetoric's unique situational focus: the preparation and delivery of speech as it relates to specific audiences, moments and issues.…”

“…This is sought by supplying arguments, definitions, characters, turns of phrase, and so on, to configure the moment, often displacing other available representations. The rhetorical preparation of discourse in politics is, increasingly, a highly strategic practice involving the purposeful selection and repetition of key terms and phrases in order to heighten the impact of a preferred message (see Grube 2013).…”