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STRATEGIES OF LEGITIMATION AND MAINTAINING THE IMAGE IN THE DISCOURSE OF RUSSIAN GOVERNORS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2022-4-5-16

Keywords:

pandemic; social networks; governor; political discourse; legitimation; image; self-presentation

Abstract

The timeliness of the present study is explained, first, by the new challenges the authorities face during the COVID-19 pandemic, and by the growing popularity of social networks as a platform for political communication. The purpose of the presented research is to study the legitimation strategies and the strategies for maintaining the image in the blogs of regional leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodological basis of the study constitutes the classification of strategies and tactics of speech behavior by O.N. Parshina (2005), as well as the classification of legitimation strategies by T. Van Leeuwen (2008). Along with qualitative content analysis, the authors employed correlation analysis of data. The results of the study reveal that image maintenance strategies are an integral part of the discourse of legitimation. The highest correlation was found between the strategy of forming the emotional state of the addressee (the strategy of maintaining the image) and the strategies of moral assessment and appeal to authority (the strategy of legitimation). In addition, there were no statistically significant deviations in the use of strategies and tactics in the discourse of the governors participating in the study, which probably allows us to speak of a certain emerging trend in Russian political discourse amid the pandemic.

Author Biographies

Ju. V. Balakina, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod

Associate Professor, Department of literature and cross-cultural communication

A. V. Sosnin, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod

Associate Professor, Department of literature and cross-cultural communication

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2022-12-27

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How to Cite

Balakina Ю. В., & Sosnin А. В. (2022). STRATEGIES OF LEGITIMATION AND MAINTAINING THE IMAGE IN THE DISCOURSE OF RUSSIAN GOVERNORS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Bulletin of Perm University. Political Science, 16(4). https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2022-4-5-16

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 4 (2022): Вестник Пермского университета. Политология / Bulletin of Perm University. Political Science

Section

Political institutions, processes, technologies

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