Förhandlingar eller maktspel? : En analys av fyra spanska partiledares uttalanden om den spanska regeringskrisen 2015/16

Författare

Max Englund

Summary, in English

This thesis studies how four Spanish party leaders have expressed themselves about the political deadlock that became reality after the country’s general elections in December 2015. The subjects of study are the declarations made during a week in the month of March by Manuel Rajoy, Pedro Sánchez, Albert Rivera and Pablo Iglesias, leaders of the four largest political parties. After presenting the context in which the declarations have been made, each declaration is analyzed through a combination of argumentative and rhetoric analysis as the aim is to capture what they say about the political crisis and how they do so. The analysis also wants to find out if a shared view is expressed or if the perspectives differ and what the underlying reason/s could be.
The investigation shows that the party leaders express different views as the situation for every party is different both in terms of political support and the ideology that the party stands for. These factors in turn affect the coalition possibilities mentioned in the statements. The study also shows that the political statements often appeal to the listener’s intellect as the leaders try to portray their solution to the crisis as the most reasonable. Another common feature in the statements is that the party leaders pride themselves in improvements of the current situation. As the election result didn’t provide any given government constellation, the party leaders seek to take advantage of the situation by suggesting solutions that are beneficial for their own party. The study concludes that the statements which often adopt a high tone are used to blame the opponents for the political situation.

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