Emotional authority in presenting the later Covid-19 strategy : the speeches and statements of Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon

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Higgins, Michael and Smith, Angela and McKay, Fiona; León-Solís, Fernando, ed. (2024) Emotional authority in presenting the later Covid-19 strategy : the speeches and statements of Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon. In: The Nation in the Time of the Pandemic. Palgrave, Basingstoke, pp. 177-196. ISBN 9783031566622 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56662-2_9)

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Abstract

Recent research on the performance of political leaders during the early stages of COVID-19 measures suggests that women leaders place more emphasis on emotional engagement and address their publics at the individual level. This chapter analyses the discursive management of emotion and authority in the post-lockdown stages of the pandemic, focusing on then-Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. A critical discourse analysis approach reveals elements of conversationalisation and political discourse. These varied across parliamentary speeches and public statements, but were consistently managed in a manner that balanced emotionality with a conventional language of authority. It finds that while Sturgeon displayed the emotional engagement associated with other women leaders, this was alongside a sustained commitment to a lexicon of governmental power and control.

ORCID iDs

Higgins, Michael ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5903-952X, Smith, Angela and McKay, Fiona ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5418-9713; León-Solís, Fernando
  • Item type:Book Section
    ID code:85919
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    28 July 2024
    Published
    27 July 2024
    Published Online
    21 June 2023
    Accepted
    Notes:Copyright © 2024 Springer-Verlag. This version of the chapter has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections.
    Subjects:Political Science
    Department:Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Humanities > Journalism, Media and Communication
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:22 Jun 2023 15:10
    Last modified:22 Dec 2024 01:09
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/85919
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