Public Rhetoric Research Articles

Трансформация лозунгов и стереотипов при смене политического курса

This study examines the transformation of political slogans, clichés, and stereotypes in Russia and Iraq during periods of political regime change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The main objective of the work is to identify and comparatively analyze the linguistic and cultural changes that accompanied political transformations in both countries. The research is based on theoretical concepts of political myth, framing, and critical discourse analysis. The research methodology includes content analysis of political texts, comparative analysis of linguistic transformations, and analysis of statistical data on cultural consumption. The main hypothesis is that, despite the presence of common trends in linguistic and cultural changes due to global processes of democratization and globalization, the specific forms and dynamics of these changes differ significantly depending on the national context. The results of the study demonstrate that both countries experienced processes of de-ideologization of socio-political vocabulary, democratization of public rhetoric, and pluralization of worldviews. However, significant differences were also revealed, particularly in the nature of language policy and the role of religion in public discourse. The study contributes to understanding the mechanisms of interaction between language, culture, and politics in conditions of radical social transformations and can be used to predict the socio-cultural consequences of political changes.

Economic and Political Aspects of Egypt’s Accession to BRICS

The article focuses on the reasons why the Egyptian leadership decided to join BRICS in January 2024. The analysis of the Egyptian leadership’s public rhetoric has shown that the key motives for joining the organization are usually related to the economy: Egyptian politicians most often talk about expanding cooperation with the organization’s member countries, dedollarization and the New Development Bank. This is due to the fact that Egypt is facing serious economic problems, which relate to budget deficit, high inflation, trade deficit and devaluation of the national currency. BRICS cannot solve these Egyptian problems and is not a “silver bullet” but the benefits of joining, associated with economic cooperation and the New Development Bank, far outweigh the costs, which are limited to a small risk of deteriorating relations with the United States. BRICS does not impose rigid obligations on its members, which makes the organization attractive to countries with different political systems, allowing them to maintain balance in international relations with different actors thereof (such as the United States, China, Russia, India, European Union countries etc.)

Ideological Censorship in Lithuania in 1948–1955: Adjustment of the System

Research conducted confirms that the crucial stage in the Sovietization of Lithuanian cultural life started at the end of fifth decade of the 20th century. The changed key points of public rhetoric, application of repressive measures, stricter control of book publishing and periodical press, more active actions of Glavlit (Chief Agency for Protection of Military and State Secrets) in cleaning the book funds showed the efforts of the authorities to implement as soon as possible a model of universal ideological control, characteristic of later Stalinism. The attack, gaining momentum against the Lithuanian cultural workers who were not able to adapt to the requirements of the new system, was instigated by the ideological campaigns arising one after another from Moscow. The Soviet mechanism of ideological censorship was finally formed at the beginning of the sixth decade when Glavlit was delegated with a task to take care of political control over art works, theatre and music repertoire. Due to the lack of the qualified staff, LSSR Glavlit failed not only to perform the new functions efficiently, but also to ensure the smooth censorship of the printed word. The lower link of ideological censorship, consisting of the leadership of the creative unions, the Board of Art Affairs and the editorial offices of publishing houses and periodical publications, operated still more unreliably, therefore in tackling political control tasks of public discourse, an important role belonged to the LCP CC. The active participation of the party machinery was also related with the fight that took place at the beginning of the sixth decade of the 20th century at the top of the local power between the representatives of the pro-Communist intellectuals of the senior generation, to whom the illusions of national Communism were not alien, and the apologists of Stalinist cultural policy. In the last years of J. Stalin’s rule the positions of the latter group strengthened, therefore the first impulses of cultural life liberalization reached Lithuania only in 1956.

Решение «жилищного вопроса» партаппаратом БАССР периода «хрущевской оттепели»

The principles of solving the housing issue in the era of the “Khrushchev thaw” in the Bashkortostan ASSR among the privileged part of Soviet society ‒ regional party managers ‒ were examined in the article, based on archival sources deposited in the National Archives of the Republic of Bashkortostan, introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The author concretized the specifics of “allocation of housing” to the party nomenclature in one of the largest national republics in the RSFSR, characterized by hidden interdepartmental clashes that took place between the organs of the republican party power and authorized state bodies at the local level. The article focuses on the trend that emerged in the late 1950s, which was expressed in the gradual rejection of housing and everyday asceticism by the post-Stalin party nomenclature in favor of the growing philistine-consumer individualism and consumerism, which were not officially recognized in the Soviet Union. The article examines the moral and ethical qualities of regional party managers, whose public rhetoric and self-presentation in the public space contrasted with their focus on obtaining material benefits depending on the level of their position.

“We don’t abandon our own people”: public rhetoric of Russia’s governors during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

ABSTRACT The 2022 invasion of Ukraine tests the resilience of the authoritarian regime in Russia. Most of the elites showed their commitment to the autocrat by publicly supporting the “special military operation”. However, the intensity of their support has varied across the ranks. By examining Russian governors, I propose that elites vary their communicative responses to the war strategically, depending on their personal considerations and the structural characteristics of their regions. I apply text-as-data methods to analyze gubernatorial posts on the social network VKontakte in 2022–2023. I find that governors up for election, outsiders, with weaker political standing, and from poorer regions communicate more support measures for combatants and their families, and humanitarian aid to the annexed territories, when discussing the war in Ukraine. Therefore, by co-opting war-affected groups and emphasizing performance legitimacy, governors minimize the threat of anti-regime mobilization without resorting to large-scale repression and contribute to authoritarian resilience.

Manifold child, family and social variables are associated with injury among New Zealand preschool children

AimApproaches to understanding child injury tend to focus on short-term proximal influences. Previous analyses have found higher rates of injury among Māori and Pacific children in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ)....

THE CONCEPT OF “JUST WAR”: HORIZON, STRUCTURE, CRITICISM

The concept of “just war” has become politically and scientifically relevant due to the collapse of the “European international system of sovereign states”; in the modern situation of “world disorder” (R. Haas), it becomes an instrument of public rhetoric; the inevitable consequence is the degradation of meaning - philosophical research, thus aimed at the formation of the concept, becomes relevant. Understanding the structure, meaning and scope of the concept of “just war” involves putting it in context; the goal, therefore, is to construct a horizon. The main task is to clarify the meaning of the concept of “just war” as a phenomenon of modernity. The concept of “just war” belongs to the field of ideas, that is, understanding presupposes going beyond the methodological framework of disciplinary science - the trans-boundary can be ensured by using methods developed by philosophical hermeneutics to analyze and identify the meaning of ideas and concepts, as well as understanding the ways in which they have power and determine reality. It is revealed that the reduction of the political to morality and the direct application of moral principles to politics necessarily leads to the degradation of war: the rejection of the “non-discriminatory concept of war” in favor of the concept of “just war” removes any restrictions from armed violence. It is demonstrated that war remains necessary on its periphery as normalization, police operation, “humanitarian intervention; the concept of ’just war’ is a tool for ensuring security. It is concluded that the anti-terrorist war as a police operation to ensure the security of the global liberal political order is the conceptual core of the modern concept of “just war”.

Управление по делам религии Турецкой Республики (Диянет) и современные российские муфтияты: вопросы взаимодействия на современном этапе

The aim of the article is to analyze the ideological and practical grounds for the interaction and mu-tual influence of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) and Russian spiritual administrations. The authors focus on the public rhetoric of the Diyanet leaders and the interaction formats between Russian and Turkish muftis over the past five years (2019–2024). Mate-rials from the official websites of the organizations, public reports, public statements and other communications of the participants of the interaction process are used as sources. Taking into ac-count the historical circumstances and the diversity of cooperation practices, Russian muftis can be considered as an object of long-term influence of the Diyanet and related structures. A conclusion is made about the potential coincidence of public discourses on the topic of consolidation and the for-mation of a common image of the future of the Muslim and Turkic-speaking world. From the ideo-logical point of view as well as taking into account the current practice of interaction, the views of the Diyanet on Muslim unity and Muslim peoples significantly overlap with the construct of the Neo-Eurasian ideas shared by the leading Russian Muslim organizations (primarily, the Spiritual Di-rectorate of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the Central Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia). At the same time, Diyanet’s stable interest in the Muftiates of North Caucasus and Ta-tarstan is weakly reflected in the public space.

My Debt to Slavery

Abstract This autobiographical essay sets up a white middle-class young woman’s emergence as a rights-bearing, choice-making exemplar of sexual freedom and as a holder of intimate racial capital in the 1970s. At the same time, elites and various professional authorities were re-stamping this young woman’s Black peers with slavery- and Jim Crow–era tropes, as sexual criminals, bad choice-makers, producers of worthless and expensive children, not citizens. The essay considers the roles played by Roe v. Wade, the availability of contraception, “modern” midwifery services, the “sexual revolution,” welfare policy, public rhetoric, and public policies in locking in new iterations of racism and racial difference in the post–civil rights era, and the importance of female sexuality, pregnancy, and maternity in constructing arenas for deploying these developments.

THE FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE ARCTIC

The Arctic is a strategically important region for our country, with enormous opportunities, but also with serious global challenges and threats. One such challenge is the erosion of international cooperation. Today, international cooperation in the Arctic is facing the most serious challenge in its history. We argue that today there is a steady trend toward a return to realism in Arctic cooperation, with non-hierarchical goal-setting giving way to the proclamation of national security as the primary goal by most Arctic states. This entails an increase in military budgets, and nation-states are becoming the main actors in Arctic governance. Finally, military power, hitherto largely seen as an "act of desperation", will be increasingly used by the Arctic states in their public rhetoric.

The Theme of Quality of Life in the Public Rhetoric of the Imperial People's Party during the First World War

The Theme of Quality of Life in the Public Rhetoric of the Imperial People's Party during the First World War

The (White) Child and the Dustin Inman Society: American Ethnonationalism, Masculine Protectionism, and Racialized Citizenship

Abstract: Utilizing feminist discursive analysis, this article examines the public rhetoric and activism of the anti-immigrant group, the Dustin Inman Society (DIS), in order to analyze how and to what ends the DIS mobilizes the memory of a dead, White child in service of anti-immigrant animus. The article demonstrates that by positioning the rhetorical figure of the Child as an oracle of the national future, the DIS frames its anti-immigrant activism as nothing less than a struggle for the survival of the next generation of (White) Americans, of a sacred American-qua-White culture, and of the nation itself. This rhetorical, ideological, and affective framing of the White Child justifies and legitimizes a particular kind of ethnonationalist male protectionism against both the ‘illegal invasion’ of Latina/o immigrants and a feminized federal government. The DIS’s racist and gendered rhetoric simultaneously contributes to rising swells of White ethnonationalism and travels along preexisting channels of racism and White (masculine) supremacy that are carved deep into US society. This analysis reveals much about the complex interrelationships between White masculinity and ethnonationalism, xenophobia, and nativism, and about how these rhetorical framings aid in the (re)definition of American citizenship as racialized, able-bodied, genealogical, and above all, White.

Free, Prior, and Informed Consent

Abstract Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (fpic) is crucial for the exercise of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, a binding human rights norm, as it provides them with the opportunity to determine how their lands and resources are developed. While numerous companies have committed to respecting fpic in their corporate policies, there continues to be a huge disconnect between public rhetoric and actions on the ground, and indigenous peoples generally struggle to have a meaningful voice in decision-making processes that concern them. Even if the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (ungp, 2011) have compelled companies to gain ground with regards to their responsibility to respect human rights, the ‘do-no-harm’ principle does not require them to take positive actions towards fulfilling human rights. This approach is inconsistent with the moral foundation of human rights, which implies duties, and does not account for the substantial economic and political power that increases companies’ potential as guarantors of human rights. Based on the normative and moral legitimacy sustaining the narrative on corporate human rights obligations and the political, moral and legal imperative behind fpic, this article asserts that companies have a normative obligation to observe fpic, which they ought to operationalise in the context of heightened requirements regarding their human rights due diligence.

Government of Georgia’s Public Rhetoric

Russian propaganda exploits the idea of freedom of information to promote disinformation. It aims to sow confusion using conspiracy theories and ensure there is not a single issue for society to consolidate. As a well-tested approach, this malicious practice of “brainwashing” can be applied in across countries or circumstances. Observation of statements made by Georgian authorities leads to the hypothesis that methods of Russian propaganda have been embedded in Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party’s rhetoric. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to study features of the Georgian government’s public communication through the prism of propaganda and test whether its rhetoric is analogous to Russia’s propaganda toolkit. The study shows apparent parallels between these two phenomena. The Georgian government’s rhetoric implies vociferous accusations against people being critical of the authorities, cultivating groundless fears among the population and shaping a negative agenda.

Care and Crisis: Making Beds in the National Health Service

AbstractIn July 1979, the Sunday Mirror published an article with the headline: “HOSPITALS AT CRISIS POINT: Jobs and beds to go in cash curbs.” In this article we explore the role of hospital beds in such public discussions of “crisis” within the British National Health Service (NHS). In the 1970s, the media and politicians paid increasing attention to bed numbers as an indicator of resource scarcity within the NHS. While this in part reflected a genuine trend, it was also a powerful narrative device. The hospital bed has become a cipher for NHS resourcing and resilience, but throughout the twentieth century, there has been a tension between stories of declining bed numbers as a sign of “crisis,” and declining bed numbers as a marker of more efficient, high-quality healthcare. This article will show that the hospital bed was an extremely important political device because it was imbued with rich social and cultural symbolism, and that stories of declining bed numbers were not as straightforward as they first appear. While discussions in the public sphere tended to focus on bed numbers and waiting times, discussions in the healthcare sector and among policymakers attended to what beds could—and should—do for both patients and staff. Public rhetoric about decline was less about the object itself, and more about the role of the hospital bed as a symbol of care and as a politically pertinent shorthand for the health of the NHS as an institution.

Tenacious Stereotypes and Inflated Expectations. Review of the Book “Admiring the Academic Class: Reflection of the Social History of Soviet Science in Literature, Art and Public Rhetoric” by K. Frumkin

The review notes the significance of the monograph. In his book, the cultural studies scholar Konstantin Frumkin has collected unique materials on the evolution of the theme of science and scientists in Soviet (Russian) culture throughout the 20th century. The author develops two parallel story lines. The first line presents an analysis of the historical development of Russian science in the 20th century. The second line presents a detailed list of templates and stereotypes of the academic environment that have developed in art. It is shown that the most widespread and iconic in Soviet art is the representation of the positive character of scientist as a self-sacrificing enthusiast. Other stereotypes under discussion include scientists’ self-sacrifice and their fighting qualities which allow them to resist impostors in science. The themes of struggle with academic plagiarism and careerism were developed. Under the sign of state impatience and inflated expectations, the obligatory theme of the connection between science and production was elaborated. An important conclusion is drawn about the tenacity of stereotypes which were not hindered by the evolution of Soviet society’s attitude to science.

Naturalizing dying at home for older adults: A critical analysis of policy texts

AbstractPublic policy initiatives, opinion surveys, and public rhetoric in Canada suggest people wish to die at home. Discourse analysis of statements, policies, reports, and websites of municipal, provincial, and federal governments show how public policy narratives reflect specific understandings of dying at home. Dying is positioned as best kept within the private “home” space. Though frequently framed as a choice, subtle rhetoric also prioritizes home as the ideal place for care at the end of life, and death. Home death preferences are naturalized as common‐sense. Along with more nuance in policy communications, transparency in how evidence informs policy is needed.

Labour as a Right, Duty, Matter of Honour and Repression in State-Socialist Bulgaria

The idea of labour free from exploitation has a fundamental place in communist ideology and was a constant slogan in the public rhetoric of the ‘peoples’ democracies’. This paper aims to examine how labour is defined in the official discourse of state-socialist Bulgaria, how it is associated with the ideas of freedom, coercion, the new communist moral order; and how labour is used as a repressive measure for annihilation the political opponents immediately after the seizure the political power by the Fatherland Front on September 9th ,1944 until the closure of the labour camps in 1962. The juxtaposition of the official state discourse of free labour without exploitation of workers and the people’s accounts reveal whether the ideologemes imposed by the state-party propaganda were accepted and became part of the people's thinking and vernacular memory. My thesis is that the ideologemes of free labour are accepted or at least not problematized in the narratives of the majority of ‘ordinary’ people who lived during the communist regime without being subjected to political repression. The other group, however - the victims of such repression - challenges the regime's propaganda ideologemes of freedom and free labour under socialism, and do so by recounting their own lives and speaking from the undeniable position of witnesses. Thus, in terms of remembering labour, freedom and coercion, the generation born in the 1920s and 1930s is divided into two ‘generational units’ (using Mannheim’s term), that remain on irreconcilable opposing positions.

Sunni And Shia Communities’ Transformations In Lebanon: Changes In The Balance Of Power

The paper focuses on the transformations going on in Sunni and Shia communities in Lebanon within the framework of the current changes in the regional balance of power. The analysis of the transformations of the mentioned communities in Lebanon and of their impact on the internal and external levels provides one of the most relevant examples of the "sectarianization" of the Middle East, especially after 2011, which was also characterized by the struggle between Sunnis and Shiites. The confessional contradictions are deeply rooted in Lebanon, based on its confessional political system, but, despite the public rhetoric, both communities tend to have more pragmatic and accommodating attitudes instead of deepening confessional confrontations. While it is true that each community has witnessed the radicalization of certain positions and that, especially after 2011, major changes are taking place, which have been fuelled by the narrative that is mostly emerging at the regional level. Have regional developments influenced the national Lebanese ones? Has confessionalism been used as a tool of realpolitik in Lebanon? These are the main questions that are going to be examined.

The erosion of media freedom in Ghana: A signal democratic backsliding?

Ghana is a poster child of the consolidation of liberal democracy in Africa, the signal evidence of which is the freedom of the Ghanaian media as the fourth estate of the realm. However, recent developments in the media landscape of the country, such as sustained death threats, assaults, use of unwarranted brute force, suspicions and murder of journalists seem to mar the democratic image of Ghana. These incidents have raised concerns about the erosion of freedom and independence of the media in Ghana, a situation that is worrying enough to ignite a debate on whether the dark days of the culture of silence are returning to the country under democratic governance. Drawing on qualitative data collected through personal in-depth interviews and grey literature of media attacks and intimidations, the article examines the extent of the erosion of press freedom in Ghana. We argue that media freedom seems to be under increasing threat by elements of the state, despite public rhetoric of freedom of the press. Specifically, the threats are coming from officials of state such as national security operatives, the police and political party supporters. Concluding, the article calls for sustained civic activism against these threats.