A Critical Discourse Analysis of Populist Political Speeches in Contemporary Western Democracies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/lark.5382Keywords:
Keywords: populism, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), “the people,” political rhetoric, van Dijk, Wodak, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Viktor Orbán, Nigel Farage, Alexis Tsipras, left-wing populism, right-wing populism, discursive strategies, national context.Abstract
The research applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze modern Western democratic political speeches, which show how leaders use language to present citizens as virtuous and a single entity while making opponents and foreign elements appear dangerous to national authority and cultural heritage and economic stability. The research examines speeches from Viktor Orbán, Nigel Farage, Alexis Tsipras, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon through van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach and Wodak's discourse-historical approach during 2015-2025. The research shows right-wing populists use civilizational nationalism and anti-elitist sovereigntism to create threats, but left-wing populists focus on economic inequality and oligarchic power and international solidarity. The implemented strategies follow specific national requirements because they address Hungarian post-communist identity and British welfare chauvinism and Greek post-austerity political dynamics and French republican anti-imperialist movements. The research shows that populist speech contains an essential oppositional pattern, yet its actual words depend on specific situations, and its meaning can shift based on ideological perspectives.
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