Rhetoric and Politics (PDF)

Paradoxically, the term 'rhetoric' functions nowadays both as a name of an antique, even obsolete framework of research and as a fashionable buzzword that entails virtually any form of persuasive communication. Reflecting a growing scholarly interest in political discourses, this volume offers systematic, theoretically grounded insights into the flow of persuasion that constitutes politics today. Authors combine the interest in rhetoric within politics with different disciplinary orientations, such as linguistics, discourse analysis, argumentation research, political science, sociology, and history. Dealing with an extensive variety of topics, the case studies presented in the single chapters provide an empirically rich account of politics as an interactional and persuasive achievement. The volume provides a repertoire of research methodologies within the broadly defined discipline of rhetoric, as well as in-depth analyses of political discourses sensible to cultural differences. The reflexive stance adopted by the authors underlies the complexities and tensions inherent in the enactment of rhetoric within the political discourse rooted in various cultures. The book is thus a valuable resource for anyone interested in constructing a coherent research agenda to explore the rhetoric of political discourse. To scholars of rhetoric, discourse analysis, political science and social sciences the book may serve as a point of reference for their own academic activities, both scholarly and didactic. Due to the pervasiveness of the political persuasion in the citizens' life, the topics covered in the volume are of social relevance, therefore they may also be of interest to critical readers at large.