Democratic Orators from JFK to Barack Obama

How do leading Democratic Party figures strive to communicate with and influence their audience? Why have some proven more successful than others in advancing their ideological arguments? How do orators seek to connect with different audiences in different settings such as the Senate, conventions and through the media? This thoroughly researched and highly readable collection comprehensively evaluates these questions as well as providing an extensive interrogation of the political and intellectual significance of oratory and rhetoric in the Democratic Party. Using the Aristotelian modes of persuasion ethos, pathos and logos it draws out commonalties and differences in how the rhetoric of Democratic Party politics has shifted since the 1960s. More broadly it evaluates the impact of leading orators upon American politics and argues that effective oratory remains a vital party of American political discourse

The Political Rhetoric and Oratory of Margaret Thatcher

The aim of this book is to assess the construction of the political persona of Margaret Thatcher and within this the rhetorical devices and oratorical methods that she used to justify Thatcherism. The study of political persona, rhetoric and oratory and its impact upon the political process is an emerging area of academic research, and Thatcher constitutes a high profile and controversial figure to use as a case study. By doing so, the book will provide an insight into the persuasive abilities (and limitations) of Thatcher, and the extent to which the personalisation of her leadership was core to the narrative(s) of Thatcherism. The book will revolve around two sections. The first section evaluates how the political persona of Thatcher was established and embedded by examining her approach, arguments and effects in three different arenas: first, at parliamentary debate; second, in set piece speeches, most notably party conferences; and third, in interviews and press conferences. The second section will examine her rhetoric and oratory by considering her use of ethos or her character to justify political positions; her exploitation of pathos or emotion as a means of justification, and the extent to which her communication was informed by logos (evidence and logic) as a means of persuasion. The second section also broadens the analysis out to consider her communicative style in terms of the Olmsted criteria: when was it deliberative (considered); when was it judicial (reflective and forensic) and to what extent was it epideitic (based around drama and performance). By the analytical approaches identified above the book will offer a new and distinctive interpretation of the leadership of Margaret Thatcher and the politics of Thatcherism. It will also offer a framework for analysis that can be applied to other political elites

Prime Ministerial powers of patronage: Ideology and Cabinet selection under Margaret Thatcher 1979–1990

This article will examine how Margaret Thatcher utilised the Prime Ministerial power of Cabinet ministerial appointment between 1979 and 1990. The article will utilise the Norton taxonomy on the Parliamentary Conservative Party (PCP) to determine the ideological disposition (non-Thatcherite versus Thatcherite) of her Cabinet members across her eleven years in office. It will assess the ideological trends in terms of appointments, promotions and departures from Cabinet and it will use archival evidence to explore the advice given to Thatcher to assist her decision-making. Through this process the article will demonstrate how Thatcher was more ideologically balanced than academics have traditionally acknowledged when discussing her Cabinet selections. Moreover, the article will also demonstrate the significance attached to media presentation skills to her decision-making, thus challenging the emphasis on ideology as a dominant determinant of Cabinet selection

Pandora box: The eurozone and the euro crisis

YesThe global economy has experienced considerable turbulence since 2007. The financial crisis has been viewed as the trigger for a prolonged period of economic decline. This decline remains an issue for all member states of the European Union, the eurozone and beyond. We argue genesis of this crisis lies in the integration negotiations of 1991, ratified in 1992. These produced a flawed economic model within the eurozone. Given the seeds of decay were planted at origin; we argue the solution can be found through a reconstructed eurozone via looser integration, where countries less equipped to deal with the realities of closer integration will be economically independent

The British Labour Party and the Antisemitism Crisis: Jeremy Corbyn and Image Repair Theory

This article utilises the work of William Benoit on image repair theory as a framework for examining the crisis communication of Jeremy Corbyn in relation to antisemitism within the Labour Party. By examining the self-defence rhetoric of Corbyn on the antisemitism allegations, the article identifies the following. Of the five strategies for crisis communication, Corbyn was overly reliant on denial, evading responsibility and reducing offensiveness; struggled to explain his attempts at corrective action; and reverted to accepting responsibility – that is, apologies – reluctantly and belatedly. Utilising existing perspectives on the most effective strategies for image repair – which emphasise the importance of effective corrective action and accepting responsibility at the expense of denial, evading responsibility and reducing effectiveness – the article argues that Corbyn undermined his own attempts at image repair in the crisis that defined his leadership

Whatever happened to compassionate Conservatism under the Coalition government?

Following David Cameron’s election as leader of the Conservative Party in late 2005, a series of initiatives suggested that he was seeking to reposition the Conservative Party, or perhaps to introduce some new thinking to the Party and to align it with interests and issues that it had not been linked with since at least the start of the Thatcher period. At the time, views among commentators varied about whether this was a genuine attempt to change the Conservative Party, including through a more compassionate approach to some social groups and problems, or whether it was simply designed to ‘detoxify’ the Party and to make it electable once more. However, many observers were unconvinced that the five years of the Coalition government saw significant evidence of the ‘compassionate’ ideas that Cameron and others sought to highlight prior to the 2010 general election. This article explores a number of possible reasons for the apparent disappearance of compassionate Conservatism in relation to social policies under the Coalition government. It suggests that rather than any one explanation, drawing upon a number of interpretations may provide the best understanding of the role and impact of compassionate Conservative ideas from 2010 to 2015

Harold Wilson The Unprincipled Prime Minister?

The year 2016 marks the centenary of Harold Wilson’s birth and the 50th anniversary of his most impressive general election victory. Wilson was one of the longest serving prime ministers of the twentieth century and won more general elections than any other Labour leader. His place in Labour history is ambiguous, however, and he inspires neither the affection of Clement Attlee nor the grudging respect of Tony Blair. This is partly because his own contemporaries have been critical of his record. For the radical left his governments were seen as periods of betrayal, with Wilson trying to manage capitalism rather than outright replace it with socialism. In contrast, he was derided from the right as contributing directly to British decline. This remarkable new study offers a comprehensive and timely reappraisal of the man and his record, examining the context within which he operated, his approach to leadership and responses to changing social and economic norms, the successes and failure of his policies, and how he was viewed by peers from across the political spectrum. Finally, it examines the overall impact of Harold Wilson on the development of British politics. With contributions from leading experts in the fields of political study, and from Wilson’s own contemporaries, this book is an important new assessment of one of the political giants of twentieth-century politics

The UK government and the 0.7% international aid target: Opinion among conservative parliamentarians

This is the first article to use a detailed dataset of the 2010 - 2015 Parliamentary Conservative Party (PCP) to identify the drivers of MPs’ positions on legally enshrining a commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on foreign aid. We position every Conservative parliamentarian into three different categories on international aid - (1) aid critics, who openly opposed and/or voted the 0.7% target; (2) aid sceptics, who abstained in parliamentary divisions on the 0.7 target and (3) aid advocates, who voted for the 0.7% and spoke out for it. We then draw on a range of political and ideological variables to determine drivers of support or opposition to aid. By doing so we identify that Cameron achieved remarkable success in transforming opinion towards aid amongst Conservative parliamentarians. This article represents a quantitative challenge to the prevalent qualitative assumption in the academic literature, which claims Cameron’s modernistion project was a failure

The Rhetorical Portrayal of Public Servants in British Political Satire

This chapter presents a rhetorical analysis of British political satire using the Aristotelian modes of persuasion vis-à-vis ethos, pathos, and logos. These refer to the credibility, emotion, and logic of how political satirists seek to construct and communicate a message to their audiences. This chapter argues that different types of rhetorical style exist across the case studies (namely, The Thick of It and Private Eye) given their distinct audiences and their expectations. Ultimately, by employing this theoretical approach, the chapter concludes that British political satire is an active participant in the political process rather than an objective observer that can fashion political opinions and affect the quality of political discourse in British politics