Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 17:1 (2018) ► pp.5–23
Democratic credentials and the ‘other(s)’ in the discourse of the Spanish Partido Popular, 1977–2015
Published online: 1 December 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17012.atk
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17012.atk
Abstract
In this paper we argue that aspects of the discourse of the governing party in
Spain at the time of writing, the Partido Popular, and its
predecessor (1976–1989), Alianza Popular, reveal a marked
continuity in its self-presentation and its representation of its adversaries,
spanning the entire period from its origins in the immediate post-Franco period
of the late 1970s to the present. We conclude that the type of construction we
describe can be found in the discourse of many of the party’s most prominent
figures, that it is central to the entire historical trajectory of
AP/PP, and in some cases is in the process
of becoming if anything more explicit.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Context and data
- 2.1Context
- 2.2Fraga: background
- 2.3Aguirre: background
- 3.Methodology
- 4.Analysis and discussion
- 4.1Fraga: ‘break with the past’, ‘democracy’ and political implicature
- 4.2Aguirre
- 4.2.1Break with the past
- 4.2.2The PP and democratic exclusivity
- 4.2.3The ‘other(s)’
- 5.Conclusion
References
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