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Demokrati och Demagogi: En studie om demagogisk retorik
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education.
2018 (Swedish)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Democracy and Demagoguery : A Study of Demagogic Rhetoric (English)
Abstract [en]

Ever since the dawn of democracy, its very existence has been threatened by people whose intention has been to exploit the system to gain all power for themselves. These antagonists are called demagogues. By 2018 accusations about demagoguery and demagogic rhetoric are directed at many world leaders, not least US President Donald Trump. But what does such an allegation really mean? The existing research on demagogic rhetoric lacks a distinct framework for what is included in the concept, which undermines the meaning of these statements. This essay aims at investigating which rhetorical topics characterize demagoguery and, by doing this, expand the theory of demagogic rhetoric. A new methodology consisting of six topics is introduced, and its analytical potential is tested by an analysis of Donald Trump. The result of the analysis both shows that the president’s rhetoric repeatedly reflects the six topics, and that the new methodology works well to analyse demagogic rhetoric. This essay shows how social and political circumstances, for example political instability, can favour demagogues, and furthermore, it shines a light on the crucial consequences that demagoguery potentially can have on democratic society. Finally, the essay highlights the importance of increased understanding of demagoguery to protect and strengthen the democratic society, and suggests that this understanding can increase partly through research on demagogic rhetoric.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. , p. 44
Keywords [en]
Rhetoric, demagogue, demagoguery, demagogic rhetoric, democracy, Donald Trump, topos
Keywords [sv]
Retorik, demagog, demagogi, demagogisk retorik, demokrati, Donald Trump, topos
National Category
Other Humanities
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-38909OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-38909DiVA, id: diva2:1349085
Subject / course
Rhetoric
Uppsok
Humanities, Theology
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2019-09-06 Created: 2019-09-06 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf