Critical Analysis of Political Discourse

Abstract

Political discourse analysis encompasses both a narrower and a broader conception of the term politics, narrower in focusing on the discourse of the government of the state and broader in incorporating all human interactions where power is an issue. Critical discourse studies (CDS) is an approach to discourse analysis which starts with the premise that language is a form of social practice and that, as with all social practices, power is an important variable. The focus of analysis is therefore political in the broad sense that power is an issue in all human interactions. CDS also includes the study of discourse in the narrow sense of political discourse connected with the government of the state, but this is only one of many areas of study among others, such as political economy, media discourse, organizational discourse, racism, gender issues, and ecological issues. CDS draws upon data in such text types as speeches, interviews, radio phone‐ins, public meetings, manifestos, constitutions and treaties, and online social media. Critical analysis requires that such texts and other semiotic data be analyzed taking into account the contexts in which they occur. This entry reviews some of the important work in CDS, focusing on a number of its key proponents.