Political Rhetoric

Rhetoric has always been at the centre of politicians' political survival. There are many genres of rhetoric and political rhetoric is one of them. Political rhetoric is associated with the practice of politics. It is a persuasive form of language which politicians employ to win support for their policies, convince people to vote for them or campaign against perceived or imagined threats to their careers. This book critically looks at the various strategies and devices used by Robert Gabriel Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe for the past 30 years) to speak against European Union, United States of America and Australia sanctions on Zimbabwe. The EU, USA and Australia have argued that the sanctions are 'targeted', and are not meant to hurt ordinary Zimbabweans. The individuals targeted in the sanctions are accused of undermining democracy in Zimbabwe so they say. Mugabe disputes this and has for the last decade used language to campaign against the sanctions at most international forums. The book can best be described as taking a critical view of the rhetoric used in order to illustrate the commonly shared view that language is never neutral.