Self-Representation of Russian Politicians: Comparative Political Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Nowadays, mass media are often used to influence the audience. Therefore, the study of rhetoric influence is often due to developing a reliable mechanism to counter unwanted manipulation. In recent years, the issues of using various communicative strategies have been actively investigated. The present research aims to study the rhetorical tactics used by presidential candidates during election campaigning. The problem is revealed by the example of speeches of Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Ksenia Sobchak on TV debates. The research highlights the main rhetorical techniques used by politicians to effectively attract the attention of potential voters to their candidacy. Within the framework of the study, using the method of discourse analysis, Russian politicians' main speech persuasion tactics to tug the electorate are described. It is noted that the totality of rhetorical tactics depends on the overall strategy chosen by the authors of the pre-election discourse, and which is aimed at winning votes. In addition to speech persuasion tactics, the study is able to identify and describe some tactics aimed at reducing the distance between the author of the discourse and its addressees. These results expand the understanding of the influence used in modernARussianApoliticalAdiscourse.