Democratic legitimacy and authority in times of Corona: Angela Merkel’s address to the nation (18 March 2020)

Abstract

This article explores the discursive and argumentative procedures that build the legitimacy and authority of Chancellor Angela Merkel in her first TV address on Covid-19. Establishing a necessary distinction in these two correlated and often confused notions, the analysis uncovers a global “rhetoric of the coronavirus”: staging of institutional legitimacy reinforced by the unity of the rulers (an all-encompassing “we”) and building of authority by the argument of epistemic authority (experts); justification of anti-Covid measures by pragmatic arguments or by historical examples; construction of an ethos that ensures credibility. The analysis also reveals procedures specific to emergency situations: enhancement of an absolute and illusory political consensus, at the expense of open democratic deliberation; reduction of scientific discourse to the discourse of experts likely to provide certainty to decision-makers, transformed into managers; calls on the public to accept of its own free will measures already enacted. Finally, the article highlights the specificities of Merkel's speech on this occasion: the meta-discourse that tackles head-on the relationship to democracy, but also to argumentation, the insistence on human values considered superior to the democratic values violated, the posture of proximity supposed to contribute to moral legitimation and to strengthen the authority of the Chancellor. The ethical dimension of the discourse is all the more salient because it relies heavily on pragmatic arguments. Another characteristic of Angela Merkel’s singular self-presentation is the confession of her own fragility, the image of a sensitive woman who unites reason and feeling, the emphasis on an ethic strongly imbued with affectivity that gives her a very human accent and calls for “solidary action” rather than for mere obedience.