scholarly journals Far-right discourse as legitimacy? Analysing political rhetoric on the “migration issue” in Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Salomi Boukala
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
New Democracy ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

This article advances research on the normalisation of far-right rhetoric on the “migration issue” by analysing statements from the current Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the ruling political party New Democracy political figures. Having presented the discourse-historical approach (DHA) from critical discourse studies (CDS) as a suitable theory and method of analysis of political discourses, I use an argumentative-based DHA approach and add the argumentative schemes of Aristotelian topoi and fallacies to explore how the leadership of the conservative New Democracy government adopted far-right rhetoric on the refugee issue to justify its tough political agenda on security, law, and order. In particular, I focus on the representation of migration as a threat to national security and public health, the politics of hate, and theories of securitisation via an in-depth analysis of the current and former prime ministers’ discourses, the former government spokesman’s statement on the refugee issue and a popular journalist and New Democracy’s MP television interview, and intend to illustrate how extreme right rhetoric could serve the conservative New Democracy’s political strategies.

Welfare restrictions and ‘benefit tourists’: Representations and evaluations of EU migrants in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna Demetriou
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Public Comment ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Abstract This article investigates online representations and evaluations of EU migrants, focusing on the notion of ‘benefit tourism’ and discursive strategies used in the (de)legitimization of new welfare restrictions in the UK. Through the examination of online newspapers and corresponding public comment threads, this article adopts theoretical and methodological premises from Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), drawing upon the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) to provide both a politically motivated as well as reflexive account. Although new participatory structures allow for resistance to emerge, the openness, scalability and anonymity of the internet also allows for the spread of discrimination through the construction of EU migrants (in particular Bulgarians and Romanians) as the ‘Other’.

Subtle discriminatory political discourse on immigration

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 894-915
Author(s):  
Gema Rubio-Carbonero
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Political Sociology ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Studies

Abstract Overt constructions of discrimination in political discourse towards immigrants are easy to detect and have been traditionally associated with far-right parties. However, mainstream political discourse on immigration delivered by so-called center or center-left parties has transformed into more subtle forms of discursive discrimination, which might not be obvious and need a closer analysis in order to be spotted in discourse. Overt discriminatory discourse has been studied by disciplines, such as political sociology, social psychology and Critical Discourse Studies, but subtle discriminatory constructions have been rather neglected. By combining these three disciplines, we propose here a multidisciplinary and multitheorical framework to systematically analyze subtle discriminatory political discourse on immigration. It aims at contributing to the development of a methodology for a socio-political analysis that allows to detect subtle discriminatory political discourse on immigration. Such framework is composed by four strategies with different degrees of subtleness: highlighting, diminishing, homogenizing and normalizing.

False reasoning and argumentation in the Twitter discourse of the Prime Minister of Israel

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salomi Boukala
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Argumentative Discourse ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

Abstract This paper explores the Twitter discourse of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, regarding security issues and the threat of ‘Islamist terrorism’ as manifested in the latest election campaign (March 2015) and his tweets and statements on Operation Protective Edge (July – August 2014). By focusing on national security and the underlying threat of terrorism against Israel and the West on Twitter, I argue that Netanyahu disseminates his political agenda further and attempts to communicate political decisions on the Gaza conflict in a digital environment. By synthesizing Aristotle’s dialectic and rhetoric and the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), and drawing on the concepts of topos and fallacy, I attempt to understand and explain how the Gaza conflict is communicated on social media by the Israeli Prime Minister. My aim is also to shed light on the validity of social media in political discourse and to examine whether and how social media can play a role in the propagation of political discourse in times of crisis through an argumentative discourse analysis of the tweets posted by the Prime Minister of Israel.

Complex texts: Analysing, understanding, explaining and interpreting meanings

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 623-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Hermeneutics ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Objective Hermeneutics ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

This article discusses different theoretical and methodological approaches in the humanities and social sciences which strive to analyse and understand, interpret and explain texts and discourses in systematic, qualitative ways. After reviewing some of the salient theories in the social sciences (such as objective hermeneutics and critical hermeneutics), I argue that critical discourse studies require a ‘trichotomy’ consisting of explanation, interpretation and critique. Other approaches such as Ricoeur’s ‘hermeneutic arc’ seem to neglect important structural and material dimensions of context as well as critical self-reflection. Moreover, I argue that much intuitive and non-transparent speculation in Hermeneutics might be transcended if more historical, cultural, linguistic and philological knowledges would be systematically and explicitly integrated into the analysis of text and discourse, in a retroductable manner. The latter possibility is illustrated by applying an interdisciplinary framework to some brief examples (e.g. intercultural and historical translation studies; the discourse-historical approach in critical discourse studies).

The media of the ultra-right

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinzia Padovani
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
The Media ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Media And Communication

Abstract In light of the rise of ultra-right ideologies in Europe, this article offers an in-depth analysis of the discourse on immigration presented by CasaPound Italia (CPI), a self-defined fascist organization in Italy. This case study illustrates the importance of media and communication activism for the promotion of contemporary ultra-right movements. Specifically, the analysis focuses on how CPI reported one of the first widely covered immigration-related disaster in the Mediterranean, on 3 October 2013, and on the audience interactions that followed on the organisation’s website. In this article, I argue that CasaPound Italia’s online communiqué and its members’ comments need to be considered as one discursive event in which the encoding/decoding processes at play can be explored in detail. The examination, which draws from critical discourse studies, reveals audiences’ contributions in unpacking the implicit message contained in the original communiqué and underlines the active role that “rank and file” members play in the promotion of ultra-right ideologies.

scholarly journals The interplay of language ideologies and contextual cues in multilingual interactions: Language choice and code-switching in European Union institutions

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak ◽  
Michał Krzyżanowski ◽  
Bernhard Forchtner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Historical Approach

AbstractThis article analyzes multilingual practices in interactions inside European Union (EU) institutions. On the basis of our fieldwork conducted in EU organizational spaces throughout 2009, we explore different types of communication in order to illustrate how Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and officials at the European Commission practice and perform multilingualism in their everyday work. In our theoretical and methodological framework, we draw on existent sociolinguistic ethnographical research into organizations and interactions, and integrate a multilevel (macro) contextual and sequential (micro) analysis of manifold data (observations, field notes, recordings of official and semi-official meetings, interviews, etc.). In this way, a continuum of context-dependent multilingual practices becomes apparent, which are characterized by different patterns of language choice and which serve a range of both manifest and latent functions. By applying the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), the intricacies of the increasingly complex phenomenon of multilingualism in transnational-organizational spaces, which are frequently characterized by diverse power-related and other asymmetries of communication, can be adequately coped with. (Code-switching, multilingualism, power, institutional spaces, European Union, ethnography, discourse-historical approach, critical discourse studies)*

scholarly journals The Politics of Voice in the Stereotypical Representation of the Pashtuns: A Critical Study of Khaled Hosseini’s Novels

2018 ◽  
Vol III (II) ◽  
pp. 385-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rab Nawaz Khan ◽  
Abdul Waheed Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Discourse Studies ◽  
Discourse Studies

The current study is an attempt to critically analyze the role and politics of voice in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns in terms of categorical and stereotypical representation of the Pashtuns. It is a critical discourse study (Norman Fairclough, 1989, 2018) of the selected data. Moreover, the data is viewed from the perspective of critical discourse studies. The novels under study are polyphonic in nature, and the characters belong to various Afghan ethnic backgrounds, like the Pashtuns, the Tajiks and the Hazaras. The study concludes that the novelist's choice of the characters with their respective voices and the roles assigned to them are political, ideological and somewhat biased. The Pashtuns have been stereotypically represented by categorizing them as the social, well-educated and more or less liberal Pashtuns, the tribal and traditionalist Pashtuns, extremist and fundamentalist Pashtuns, like Taliban. Misrepresentation of the tribal and fundamentalist Pashtuns as racists, ethnic nationalists, ideologists, sexists, exclusionists, traditionalists and power-abusers is indicative of the novelist's biasedness and exaggeration.

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