Metaphors, persons, values for the construction of the ethos: the case of Berlusconi’s descent into the political arena

Against the background of Discourse Analysis, the article focuses on the first speech delivered by Silvio Berlusconi in 1994. Thanks to the methodological approach known as Critical Metaphor Analysis, the crucial metaphor exploited in the speech reveals its emotional potential, which contributes to the creation of a “political myth” giving strength and credibility to the ethos of the speaker. As far as the structure of the enunciation is concerned, the paper compares Berlusconi’s speech with the famous “Blood, sweat and tears” speech, delivered by Winston Churchill before the Commons in 1940.

The effectiveness of Ronald Reagan’s discourse: a question of ‘montage’

The communicative success of Ronald Reagan is as much indisputable a datum as its interpretation is controversial.
Starting from an evaluation of the political character in his context, the article underlines the emotional component in Reagan’s communication, and focuses on the verbal component of his speech to the Nation.
More specifically, a linguistic analysis is here offered of the first inaugural address on cognitive-metaphorical basis, developed in visual and emotional perspective, supporting the thesis of the montage as one of the main underpinnings of the persuasive effectiveness of Ronald Reagan’s discourse.

“Brothers but not twins”: political communication in Italy and France

International comparison in the field of political communication has recently focused its attention on the convergence of media systems in Western democracies. The study of the French and Italian cases falls into this debate, identifying the key features that distinguish the two domestic contexts.
After a period of convergence, the article suggests that currently Italy and France present more divergences than similarities, due especially to a different mass media differentiation process. In order to check this hypothesis, a reconstruction of the evolution of the relationship between politics and media is proposed. Finally the main results of a field research focused on political coverage in major newspapers and national TV news are presented and discussed.

Occupation and nation in the new Palestinian education programs

This essay is aimed at exploring, through a complex and comprehensive approach that is based on the original sources in Arabic, the intricate intersection between education, politics, nationalism and occupation in the Palestinian society. In the article the schoolbooks published by the Palestinian Authority since 2000 are examined in order to investigate how politics -the biggest manipulator of memory- uses the educational system – and especially the school curriculum- to transmit certain narratives and versions of history, to implement processes of identity construction, to promote certain perceptions of the Self and the Other and to encourage individual and collective responsibilities towards the community and the conflict. A tentative analysis of the key-factors related to the Israeli occupation and of the concepts of resistance, martyrdom and jihad explores to what extent schoolbooks in Palestine contribute to spreading a peace and tolerance- oriented culture among the youth.

A brand called Obama

The latest American elections have been a true revolution from various points of view. For the first time in history an Afro – American has been elected President of the United States. For the first time a woman has attempted to be elected President. For the first time a Republican candidate has chosen a woman as V.P. candidate. Communication campaigns were very aggressive, but this is not a novelty for the country that pioneered modern marketing and advertising. New media have been employed more extensively than in the past, thanks to technological evolution. But, from a communication point of view, the biggest difference of these elections from those of the past has been the challenge to present the candidate as a successful brand. And success has been complete.