The Use of Anecdotes and Other Rhetorical Means in Italian PoliticalLeaders’ Discourse — The Application of the Rhetorical Political AnalysisMethod to Investigate the Rise of Populism Within PoliticalCommunication from 1990 to 2014
Francesca Petracca
(Independent Researcher, Italy)
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an increasing populist trend within Italian political communication, an emergent tendency observed in other Western countries, by analysing the discourses of party leaders at conferences. The time period considered was from 1990 to 2014. The Literature Review focused on three main areas of interest. Firstly, it examined the function of rhetoric, as the art of the use of language to persuade, and the evolution of its perception from classical to modern times. Hence, it explored the role of political oratory in democratic systems and the concept of rhetorical situation, in order to illustrate how deliberative rhetoric has evolved due to the changing context of political communication. Finally, it examined the theory of argumentation, which applies to any speech which attempts at persuading, and how the rhetorical strategy of reasoning related to the study of political ideologies. The study adopted a qualitative approach to conduct the research. Specifically, it used the Rhetorical Political Analysis (RPA) as the investigative method to conduct a discourse analysis of a sample of twenty leaders’ speeches at party conferences. This method allowed the researcher to study the role of rhetoric within political language, in particular to examine political argumentation and the evidence that speakers adopt to support a political claim. Findings and discussion illustrated the results obtained through the analysis of the political discourses adopting the RPA method. Evidential proof of the speakers’ addresses used in political argumentation to persuade their audience was classified into four main categories: evidential, cultural, party political, and anecdotal quotations. These sections examined the main themes tackled by each of the citations, outlined a trend of their usage by Italian political actors over the period 1990-2014, and compared results among left and right-wing party leaders. Findings showed that the use of the first three types of citations has gradually declined, compensated by the recent rise of the use of anecdotes. Anecdotal quotations observed were of two kinds: stories about ordinary people, and stories about the leaders’ personal experiences. While the former was indicative of an increasing importance within the political debate of the voiced opinions of common citizens, the latter illustrated the rise of a personalisation process in Italian politics.
Conclusions related the outcomes of the research to the study aim and objectives. Specifically, it was argued that political language is adapting to the changing context, whereby individuals ascribe to the common opinion the importance of issues of public concern instead of to the authorities or to those who have the specialist knowledge on such matters. Hence, the conclusion was that there is a populist trend within Italian political communication. Recommendations for future research suggested conducting a holistic investigation of the use rhetoric within political language, by combining the RPA, which considers rhetoric the analytical framework of argumentation, with other approaches to discourse analysis, which acknowledge rhetoric as the object of analysis itself.
Key words: political communication; rhetorical political analysis method; Italian political leaders
JEL codes: B
