The design of a theoretical, methodological, analytical framework to analyse hegemony in discourse

Abstract

This paper includes a detailed discursive analysis of the discourse of the former President Salinas de Gortari (Mexico, 1988–1994) and that of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN). This study contextualises the EZLN struggle as a local response to the global policy shift of the Mexican government. It considered the discourses of both parties as narratives which played a strategic role in a struggle to gain hegemonic acceptance in Mexico. This paper focuses on the theoretical–methodological framework which integrates a Gramscian view on hegemony with discourse theory and two main directions in critical discourse analysis. It shows that this approach opened a series of new perspectives and helped to evaluate the existing interpretations as well as to define the main stakes in the struggle. While Salinas sought to establish republican nationalism and a liberal democracy, the EZLN struggle is for ethnic nationalism and a radical democracy.