Danubius International Conferences, 6th International Conference on European Integration - Realities and Perspectives
Election Debates - (Non)Verbal Ritual Games
##manager.scheduler.building##: B Hall
##manager.scheduler.room##: B 14
Date: 2011-05-13 12:30 PM – 02:00 PM
Last modified: 2011-05-10
Abstract
Throughout centuries, visibility in politics has been “wrapped” in different communication subsidies (posters, TV spots, brochures, direct mail, internet, social media). But within this discursive diversity, Benoit, Blaney and Pier (1998: 234) identify one constant subsidy, namely debates. Considered by Boorstin (1985: 39-40) “pseudo-events”, political debates have always been considered discursive confrontations where the conflict relation is greatly highlighted. Having the 2009 Presidential Election in Romania as empirical data, our paper will have a twofold aim: firstly, to provide a micro and macro comparative analysis of acclaims, attacks and defenses (Benoit et al., 1998) as signs of a verbal ritual game; secondly, to analyse the act of gift-giving as an “apparent” sign of reconciliation between political candidates.
