German Leaders Research Articles

Dimensi Budaya Hofstede dalam Komunikasi Antarkaryawan Organisasi Multinasional

The cultural differences within an organization can create various barriers in the communication process among employees. Therefore, with the increasing number of international migrants in Indonesia, employees are required to enhance their understanding of cross-cultural communication. One example is the marketing department employees of a multinational organization under the initial DO, which is led by two managers from different countries, Indonesia and Germany. Hence, this research aims to examine the communication practices of DO’s marketing department, which are influenced by two vastly contrasting cultures using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. To conduct the research, a descriptive case study method was used, employing in-depth interviews with five members of DO's marketing department. The research found that the dynamics of communication in the marketing department are greatly influenced by cultural dimensions, particularly in aspects such as decision-making and discussion processes, communication styles, task distribution patterns, freedom for innovation, employee work patterns, views on deadlines, and views on employee rights such as leave and dress code. The research also found that members of the department from Indonesia will only adopt foreign cultures brought by their expatriate leaders if they are deemed suitable or compatible with their own culture. Conversely, if they are not compatible, the German leader tends to accommodate and adjust to their other members. Understanding cultural dynamics that happens in communication among employees allows the company to detect types of communications that are happening and detect problems that might happen, for a more effective process. Keywords: employee communication, Germany, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Indonesia, multinational organization

Have German leaders become ‘sentimental’? A qualitative study of novel leadership practices and expectations since COVID

This qualitative study investigates the leadership implications of COVID-induced work-from-home in the German context. We find that sentiment has become part of post-pandemic leadership expectations and identify the ‘coaching leader’, on lower leadership levels, and in relation to one’s peers, as a new style. The increased relevance of empathy, sentiment and development is in contrast to the leadership expectations which project GLOBE has established for Germany. Furthermore, we see that leadership in times of crisis becomes more malleable, providing individuals with the possibility of moving beyond existing norms, such as culture-specific value orientations, standards and leadership styles. The contribution of our study lies firstly in identifying the ‘coaching leader’ as a new style. Secondly, we show that leaders’ creative performances might be more relevant to New Work than the culture-specific styles which comparative cross-cultural management is based upon. Consequently, cross-cultural management research on leadership, as well as leadership development in practice, needs to become more individualized and contextualized. We also find that interviewees continue to make sense of leadership using the established culturally-contingent templates identified by project GLOBE, even though their actual leadership practices have changed. This gap between subjective leadership perception and objective leadership practice needs to be taken into account by cross-cultural management theory and practice. In summary, we propose that cross-cultural management research on leadership should (1) integrate qualitative, in-depth, and quantitative, comparative approaches for mutual enrichment, (2) differentiate leadership contexts into stability and change (crisis), and (3) consider both subjective and objective leadership realities.

German Claims for Leadership: From a Federalist to a Geopolitical Leadership Master Narrative

ABSTRACT Ever since the beginning of the European integration process, Germany’s role within the EU has been a contentious topic in political and intellectual debate. Following German unification, this has been further exacerbated by various crises. On the one hand, many have expressed concerns about power politics aimed at establishing a ‘German Europe’ or a ‘European Germany’, as Thomas Mann declared in 1953. On the other hand, voices across Europe have criticised Germany for its lack of more forceful power politics. At the same time, German leaders have repeatedly pledged to assume greater responsibility after being accused of showing insufficient commitment, no doubt borne out of pacifist sentiments, reflecting the dark shadow of Germany’s history. In this paper, we examine not only how the coalition government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz that came into office in 2021 has articulated a tacit and increasingly explicit claim for leadership, but also how the Chancellor has transformed his narrative in line with the ‘Zeitenwende’ following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We argue that the key to understanding Germany as a driving force is its remarkable shift from a federalist narrative to an adapted geopolitical, security-driven master narrative covering a broad set of policy fields.

Validation and Measurement Invariance of the German and Spanish Gender Bias Scale for Women Leaders

AbstractGender bias still appears to contribute significantly to the gender disparity observed in upper leadership positions. The present study presents the translation, modification, and validation of the Gender Bias Scale for Women Leaders (GBSWL, Diehl et al., 2020) into German and Spanish. Using data from four samples of full-time employed women from Germany and Spain with and without leadership responsibility (N = 870), we conducted confirmatory factor analyses to establish factorial validity, tested measurement invariance across the different job levels and countries, and tested construct validity. Our results indicate that the original factor structure does not hold in Germany and Spain. Therefore, utilizing the German leader sample as a construction sample, we modified the factor structure and validated the modified version using the remaining three samples. The modified version demonstrated good model fit, had metric measurement invariance across all samples, and resulted in a correlational pattern consistent with theory and the original study. Overall, results suggest that the German and Spanish versions of the GBSWL are reliable and valid instruments that scholars and practitioners can use to advance theory, research, and human resource practice in Germany and Spain.

The Sino-Soviet Alliance: An International History by Austin Jersild

<i>The Sino-Soviet Alliance: An International History</i> by Austin Jersild

Inertia and Reactiveness in Germany's Russia Policy

Abstract Despite signs that Russia was preparing an invasion of Ukraine, the newly elected German government stayed with pre-existing approaches that involved engagement and the threat of limited sanctions. However, in February 2022, just before the invasion began, Germany blocked the Nord Stream 2 pipeline system, announced weapon deliveries to Ukraine, and massively increased defense spending. This article shows that inertia and reactiveness heavily influenced the timing, nature, and extent of this massive shift in Germany's Russia policy. German leaders continued the existing policy in part because it had been formed by still influential figures and was in line with societal views. However, at the dawn of the invasion, the failure of previous policies had become undeniable, pressure from Ukraine and nato allies peaked, and societal views finally shifted. Reacting to this untenable situation, key figures in the German elite pushed through a series of measures that nato allies and Ukraine had long demanded.

The Moral Example of the German Resistance Against the Nazi Regime

Perceptions about the German Resistance against the Nazis ( Widerstand) changed over the years since WWII. Whereas the Nazis saw resisters as amoral traitors, German leaders recently presented the individuals of the Widerstand as moral examples of people who resisted intolerance, racism and totalitarianism. Statements and reflections about moral perception by and about people of the Widerstand in a wide variety of sources were considered historically and with moral theory. Because of the vast heterogeneity of the resisters, a basic normative understanding of ethical and moral action was engaged instead of a single theory. The Widerstand represents a struggle for moral dominance between individuals and a morally corrupt state. The Widerstand case confirms the notion that morality is inextricably bound to individual perception of what is right or wrong. As an universal moral example, the Widerstand example moots for the rejection of intolerance, racism and totalitarianism as morally wrong.

Angela Merkel’s Leadership Lessons: the Secret of Political Longevity (2013‒2021)

The article examines the phenomenon of the political longevity of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The subject of the study is the second period of her chancellorship (2013–2021), as few German leaders have managed to stay in office longer than two terms. The author analyses in detail what objective factors and personal qualities helped Merkel to win the 2013 and 2017 elections, overcome declining personal popularity and objective voter fatigue, and get through all crises, including the migration crisis and COVID-19. The article examines how the tactics and strategy of the first female chancellor have transformed in response to changing political conditions. It explores the tools with which Merkel built her image as nonpartisan leader of the nation, and how she became a hostage to the image she created in 2015. The decision to accept refugees was a turning point in Merkel’s career; thus, the author pays particular attention to the ways in which she helped maintain her chancellorship. The paper uses the theory of how women’s leadership differs from men’s. The conclusion is drawn that Merkel developed her own special personal method of securing power and maintaining the image she needs. The main secret of her success is not the use of force but quick learning and adaptation, based on her instinct for political survival.

Commitment is the key: A moderated mediation model linking leaders' resources, work engagement, and transformational leadership behavior.

The present study aims at gaining insights into the underlying mechanisms leading from leaders' resources to their transformational behavior. Based on the Job Demands-Resources theory, we hypothesized that leaders' personal (self-efficacy) and job (role clarity) resources eventually enhance their performance, more specifically their transformational leadership, through fostering work engagement. Further, we proposed that the link between work engagement and transformational behavior is moderated by leaders' affective commitment, drawing on Social Identity Theory. Data were collected from N = 216 German leaders in 2020 via an online survey. Hypotheses were tested by applying a moderated mediation model linking resources, engagement, commitment, and leadership behavior. The problem of potential endogeneity was further addressed. As predicted, both self-efficacy and role clarity enhanced leaders' transformational behavior, mediated through work engagement. The relationship between leaders' work engagement and performance was stronger when they felt a strong belonging and emotional attachment to their organization, that is, high affective commitment.

Comrades-in-Arms and Partners in Crime: The German Democratic Republic (GDR) and China in the 1950s and 1960s

This article analyzes the quality of selected aspects and issues regarding relations between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and China in the 1950s and early 1960s. How was Chinese dictator Mao Zedong’s Hundred Flowers Campaign perceived and interpreted in East Berlin, and why and until when was GDR leader Walter Ulbricht enthusiastic about Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward are among the questions this article will seek to answer. As it turned out, East German leaders’ assessments and newspaper reporting on Mao’s domestic and foreign policy and government propaganda did not in any way correspond with China’s on the ground realities. The East German authorities took Chinese propaganda and entirely false statistics and data on steel and agricultural production at face value and ordered its mouthpiece newspapers to do the same. The same was true for Chinese reporting and propaganda on Ulbricht’s decision to divide Berlin with a wall in 1961: misleading and nonsensical reporting in support of a fair-weather friendship, which in the wake of the Sino-Soviet Split in the early 1960s would turn into enmity (as ordered by Moscow).

Теория языка и коммуникации: научный круг И.А. Стернина

The paper gives a brief review of research ideas and publications of the famous Russian linguist I.A. Sternin with the emphasis made on his theoretical model of communicative behaviour and its successive development in the studies of contemporary Russian and foreign colleagues. The terminological framework of Sternin's scientific researches is determined by such essential directions as semantic and cognitive language analysis, the integral theory of lexical meaning, verbal manipulation and effective communication, linguistic and communicative consciousness, principles of developing speech culture, theoretical linguistics as systematization of aspects and areas of language science. A bright linguistic heritage is reflected in the works of the scientist devoted to the issues of correlation of the language structure and cultural and communicative processes in their national dimension. The author of article correlates the basic principles of describing the communicative behavior of people, formulated by Prof. Sternin, with the analysis of the modern communicative portraits of Russian and German leaders in business communication in the structure of national culture models; with approaches to modeling the integral category of culturally sensitive communicative style and its main characteristics. It would be fair to say that I.A. Sternin's concepts formed new impulses for the development of subsequent ideas, theoretical approaches, and the preparation of new publications.

Physical education and bodily strengthening on either side of the Rhine: a transnational history of the French bill on physical education and its German reception (1920-1921)

ABSTRACT After the Great War, many European countries embarked upon a voluntarist policy to promote physical education and, more broadly, the bodily strengthening of their population. Nevertheless, this movement was marked as much by singular national variations as by the observation of foreign programmes and practices. The aim of this paper is to study the German perception of French initiatives in the light of the fragile Franco-German relations. It analyses a brochure published in 1921 by the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen (DRA), the most important sports federation under the Weimar Republic. This exceptional 11-page document has an emblematic title: Frankreich und wir! (France and us!) It presents the 1920 French government’s bill in favour of bodily strengthening and compares each point with claims made by the German leaders. In this way, it highlights the tireless voluntarism of German sports leaders and the international competition in the development of sports and physical education movements. Finally, this brochure is an exemplary testimony to the development of physical activities according to national models and the growing influence of foreign exemplars in the diffusion of physical education models in connection with national reconstructions. The sources used include historical publications and archives from Germany and France.

The Sakharov-Medvedev Debate on Détente and Human Rights

Abstract This article examines the debate between Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Roy Medvedev in the 1970s concerning the Jackson-Vanik Amendment and détente. Although both dissidents stood for East-West détente and democratization of the Soviet system and believed in the possibility of a dialogue with Soviet leaders until 1970, they later diverged in their views about methods of action. As Sakharov lost faith in the possibility of influencing the Soviet regime headed by Leonid Brezhnev, he shifted to a more radical position, adopting the language of human rights and turning to Western politicians and public opinion as an audience for his calls. Sakharov's public embrace of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment was in line with his advocacy of freedom of emigration and his belief that the West should extract concessions in the field of human rights before granting trade benefits to the Soviet Union. Medvedev, by contrast, argued that the amendment was counterproductive insofar as it risked alienating Soviet leaders and triggering adverse results. He considered that détente should be encouraged for its own sake, with the hope that over time it would spur democratization in the country. Medvedev's argument had much in common with the West German leader Willy Brandt's notion of “change through rapprochement,” a concept invoked as a rationale for Brandt's Ostpolitik. Although Sakharov's position earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, the Helsinki Accords showed how détente could serve the cause of human rights even with the Cold War under way.

Berlin Rules: Europe and the German Way by Paul Lever

Reviewed by: Berlin Rules: Europe and the German Way by Paul Lever Randall E. Newnham Berlin Rules: Europe and the German Way. By Paul Lever. London: I.B. Tauris, 2018. Pp. xiv + 274. Paper $15.95. ISBN 978-1788314138. The premise of this book by the former British Ambassador to Germany is clear from its title: Germany is in charge of the European Union and thus clearly the dominant power in Europe. Is this merely an alarmist argument? There are, after all, those in Britain whose views about Germany seem to be frozen in 1940, when the heroic RAF fended off waves of Nazi bombers. Lever strives to be seen as more thoughtful, as one would expect from an author with many years of experience with Germany, including as British Ambassador to that country in 1997–2003. Lever has written a comprehensive book on Germany's role in the EU in recent years. It focuses first on Germany's economic strength, then turns to the views on federalism held by successive governments, and finally to German history. In these chapters, Lever argues convincingly that German support for the EU is strengthened by two factors. First, Germany itself is federal, so a federal Europe seems familiar and nonthreatening to German leaders. Second, Germany's negative view of its own history makes it more willing than some other states (notably Britain) to leave national history behind and embark on a pan-European project: "As Germans they [End Page 440] are constantly reminded of their past. As Europeans they can escape from it" (122). Lever next focuses on Germany's relations with its major European partners, especially France and Poland. Finally, he addresses the EU's progress toward greater unity and the possibility of an EU army. All of this seems initially to be part of a reasonable discussion of Germany's place in Europe. Indeed, Lever is not entirely negative about what he sees as Germany's leading role. He argues that Germans are safely democratic and that their current influence is much closer to the ideas of "soft power" than the "hard" power exercised by Germany before 1945. For example, when discussing Germany's leading role in the EU, Lever notes that this role is rooted in ideas, not threats. When Volker Kauder of the CDU famously said in 2011: "Jetzt auf einmal wird in Europa deutsch gesprochen," he did not mean this literally (1). He meant that Germany's ideas now seemed to be widely shared in the EU. In Lever's view, the size of the German economy and its large role within the European Commission and Parliament enable Berlin to be "first among equals" in EU decision-making: "others may propose," he writes, "but in the end it is the German government which will decide" (viii). Nevertheless, Lever clearly still sees this situation as a serious threat, and this gives his work a very polemical cast. His book is dominated by bottomless cynicism about both Germany and the EU. Lever seems utterly convinced that European politics is a zero-sum, state-centered game, where clashing state interests are the only explanation for EU policy. The EU has little or no independent worth, in his view. German and EU leaders are regarded as hypocrites, who preach unity and common values while promoting a purely self-centered agenda. As Lever puts it: "Is there anything more to Germany's leadership of the EU than a simple wish to get results which are good for Germany? German politicians like to pretend that there is. They pontificate about the need for a so-called 'political union'" (27). Lever does not think it possible that Germans can sincerely believe in the EU as a project. Similarly, he does not think that they have any real interest in the environment or social rules of the EU. Lever claims that "they use lofty European rhetoric about social progress and environmental stewardship, [but] in reality they want to ensure that Germany's competitors are not able to benefit from laxer rules than apply in Germany itself" (187). Indeed, he claims that Germany's entire economic model is based on the premise that "It is not enough...

Vlastimil Tusar’s Governments and the German Problem in Czechoslovakia (July, 1919 — September, 1920)

The author of this article deals the with problem of the German minority in the Czechoslovak Republic using archival and published documents and investigates the policy of Vlastimil Tusar’s two governments (the first from July 8, 1919 to May 25, 1920, and the second from May 25 till September 15, 1920). The author pays special attention to Tusar’s personal efforts in settling the German Bohemians’ problem, and to his negotiations with the leaders of German political parties, primarily with the German social democratic workers’ party in Czechoslovakia, and his efforts to reach agreements with them. The author shows the foreign and domestic political reasons that blocked the success of these negotiations. The most important of the latter were the disagreements between the Czechoslovak ruling circles and German political leaders (including social democrats) over the questions of the settlement of the Czechoslovak Republic. While the Czech politicians were trying to create “a national state”, the German leaders demanded the formation of “a state of nationalities”. The latter insisted on dividing the state on the basis of national belonging and its formation following the model of the Swiss confederation. In addition, the German-Bohemian parties demanded changes to Czechoslovak foreign policy: they were against a unilateral orientation to France and participation in any coalitions, and they were for the establishment of friendly relations with all states including Germany and Austria. It was difficult to reach a mutual understanding because the Czechoslovak political elite refused to agree that German political parties could participate in the elaboration of the constitution and other basic laws of the Republic. The author of the article considers the 1920 parliamentary elections that took place after the passing of the constitution of Czechoslovak Republic, the activity of the German political clubs in the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia, the foundation of the German parliamentary union, and the attitude of the German-Bohemian political parties to the second Tusar government. The article also deals with the relations between the Czech and German Social Democrats, perspectives on the participation of Germans in the Tusar governments, and the reasons for the resignation of the latter in September 1920. According to the author, “the Red–Green Coalition” headed by Tusar was not able to achieve international reconciliation and corroboration because there were widespread prejudices between Czechs and Germans, which were made full use of by nationalists from both sides in the course of the political fight.

The Imagined Ethno-Racial Border and the Expulsion of Jews from Western Poland, 1939-41*

Abstract Although the ‘Jewish question’ had always figured prominently in Nazi ideology and long-term objectives, the population policy to which Nazi German leaders and officials gave priority in practice in 1939–1941 was the relocation of ethnic-German ‘resettlers’ to annexed western Poland. Christopher Browning and other historians have argued that while in autumn and winter 1939 the Nazi leadership appeared to view the comprehensive removal of Jews from Germany’s ‘incorporated eastern territories’ as a high priority, because they did not prioritize it in practice, it did not happen. This article shows that this interpretation does not fully reflect events. A detailed case study of the expulsion of Jewish residents from east to west within the province of Silesia’s incorporated territory in May–June 1940 demonstrates that for Nazi German elites an ethno-racial boundary ran down the middle of the incorporated territories, north to south, and west of that boundary the comprehensive removal of Jews was prioritized in practice and very nearly realized.

Context and conditions matter: Stress and strain in the exercise of leadership power

Current research shows that a significant number of leaders suffer from strain which effects their application of power. This is a highly relevant leadership issue in today’s challenging business world. This study applies conservation of resources theory and the critical leadership studies approach to re-think leadership dynamics such as stressors and strain factors and their influence on power-related behaviour. The leader role, leader–member relations, workplace, organization and environment can be identified as resource passageways which create, maintain or limit the development of resources such as power-related behaviour. Research on the self-assessments of 43 German leaders from private sector shows that strain factors, leader role and leader–member relations can influence power-related behaviour. The data also show the importance of clarifying demands and expectations to prevent resource loss, otherwise overtaxed leaders are highly likely to use negative forms of power-related behaviour. The results demonstrate the need to improve understanding of the leader role with its increasing demands to be more flexible, agile and ambidextrous, but also to accept the human limitations of those who take on senior positions. Hence, the study findings demonstrate that context and conditions shape the situation in which leaders are embedded and therefore how to handle power is not only a problem for leaders themselves. The article also discusses the limitations of these findings and outlines possible directions for future research.

Healthy Leaders: Core Self-Evaluations Affect Leaders' Health Behavior Through Reduced Exhaustion.

Leaders’ self-directed health behavior (i.e., SelfCare behavior) plays an important role in the health and well-being of both leaders and employees but has been neglected in research so far. This study was aimed at investigating the antecedents of SelfCare behavior in terms of the personal characteristics of the leaders. In a sample of 150 (98 male, 52 female) German leaders from a wide range of organizations, we examined the direct and indirect effects of core self-evaluations (i.e., CSEs) on leaders’ SelfCare behavior. We predicted that CSEs would be positively related to SelfCare behavior with reduced exhaustion as a mediator, and organizational health climate (i.e., OHC) as a moderator of this relationship. Results showed that CSEs were positively related to SelfCare behavior and that the reduced exhaustion mediated this relationship. There was no evidence that OHC moderated the positive relationship between CSEs and SelfCare behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

German Colonial Wars and the Context of Military Violence by Susanne Kuss

Reviewed by: German Colonial Wars and the Context of Military Violence by Susanne Kuss Adam A. Blackler German Colonial Wars and the Context of Military Violence. By Susanne Kuss. Translated by Andrew Smith. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017. Pp. 1 + 386. Paper $45.00. ISBN 978-0674970632. Academic debates over alleged links between Germany's overseas empire and the Third Reich have dominated German colonial historiography since the early 2000s. Prominent historians such as Isabel Hull, Jürgen Zimmerer, and Benjamin Madley have drawn considerable interest to the field, suggesting in their respective studies that total warfare and systematic violence in the colonies acted as genocidal antecedents to the Nazis so-called "New Order" in Eastern Europe. While scholars have more recently started to turn their attention to other aspects of Germany's global empire, the "Windhoek to Auschwitz" thesis remains a powerful thematic undercurrent in the historical literature. Queries about German colonialism and its violent status relative to other contemporary colonial powers, in particular, continue to inspire curiosity, as well as direct much of the scholarly research on German imperialism. Susanne Kuss's German Colonial Wars and the Context of Military Violence is an important example of this historiographical reality. In contrast to advocates of the "continuity thesis," Kuss argues that German imperial violence emerged in relation to the particular sociopolitical and geographic circumstances in each respective [End Page 147] Kriegsschauplatz or theater of war (8). She supports this thesis with a detailed analysis of Germany's three best-known colonial wars, specifically the Boxer War in China, the Maji Maji War in German East Africa, and the Herero and Namaqua War in German Southwest Africa. Kuss devotes a chapter to each imperial theater and assesses how the individual campaigns altered the mental and psychological disposition of soldiers toward local populations (5). In this manner, her study demonstrates that extreme violence in the colonial sphere did not follow a premeditated strategy contrived in the metropole, but was instead the result of shifting war aims, poor planning, economic concerns, and racist fantasies that failed to materialize once German settlers and soldiers arrived overseas en masse (107–108). Kuss organizes her study into three parts: "Three Wars," "The Colonial Theater of War," and "Evaluation and Memory." Part 1 offers concise overviews of the three military campaigns in question. In this section, Kuss pays careful attention to the unique regional dynamics, such as the specific intentions colonial leaders had for each colony, which she contends made it impossible for German leaders to conduct imperial policy monolithically. The quality of this study rests on Kuss's ability to combine primary source-based research of China, German East Africa, and German Southwest Africa into one analytical narrative. She writes, for instance, that German soldiers in China unquestionably participated in violent expeditions against Chinese militias, but given Germany's general "irrelevance to the outcome of the [Boxer] war" due to its late arrival in Asia, boredom motivated troops to commit selective episodes of brutality "for enrichment" and to "vary an otherwise dull routine" (36). In sharp contrast, the wars in German East Africa and German Southwest Africa were more systematic in their conduct and orientation. Part 2 sharpens the analytical comparison of the Kriegsschauplätze and how distinct conditions in each location fashioned disparate occupational strategies, as well as mixed attitudes toward the use of extreme violence against colonized populations. As an example, Kuss reminds readers that African soldiers (askari) comprised a significant number of colonial forces in German East Africa (105). She explains that the askaris' knowledge of the region and terrain allowed German authorities to deploy their forces methodically against enemy settlements, supply lines, and Maji Maji guerillas. By way of contrast, Kuss shows that this approach was not possible in China due to the Germans' lack of "reliable familiarity with the Chinese population" and the "ethnic homogeneity" of the Shandong Province (161). She argues that imperial officers in German Southwest Africa, meanwhile, decided not to classify ethnic peoples hierarchically because the military had already defeated the two most powerful groups (Herero and Namaqua) at the turn of the twentieth century (164). Kuss also rightly emphasizes the importance of biological racism in...

Metaphor in Political Media Discourse: Mental Political Leader Portrait

In the article, we realize the aim of the study. We identify the role of metaphor in the political media discourse as an important part of the mental political portrait. The paper deals with the analysis of Chancellor’s metaphoric image structured by the expansion onto the source domain of professional activity, based on simple and compound models and their varieties. The complex methods of cognitive and pragmatic analysis of the mental political leader portrait are used. The article describes the pragmatic power of professional metaphoric models defined by the constant conceptual vectors of ruin and destruction and conceptual vector of protectionism. The ways of analysis are useful for development of communication theory, cognitive linguistics, socio- and psycholinguistics, linguapragmatics, cultural, media, and virtual linguistics. In the article, we establish that the political portrait of the German leader is formed by metaphorical expansions onto various areas of professional activity: law, pedagogics, theatre, circus, fine arts, building, transport (railway), medicine, service, law enforcement, music, hunting. On the material taken simple and composite (double-projected) metaphoric models have been identified. The complex metaphoric unity defines the genre peculiarities and the stylistics. The pragmatic power of professional metaphoric models is defined by constant conceptual vector of ruin and destruction .