Abstract
This chapter discusses the specificity of French discourse analysis in the 20th century, highlighting its inherent and natural focus on political discourse, linked to the political effervescence of the 1960s in France. It starts with discussing the main features of the close relationship between discourse research and political communication in France in the 1960s and 1970s, and the influence of the thinking of L. Althusser and M. Foucault on the conception of discourse and discourse study. Then it highlights the distinctive characteristics of the ‘French school’, and particularly the central role played by enunciative pragmatics. Finally, it critically reflects, along the lines of the French school, on two examples taken from electoral campaigns: one from the former US president B. Obama, and the other from the anti-globalization activist J. Bové. The analysis of these examples underlines the importance of the notion of ethos, a core concept in French (political) discourse analysis.
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