Narratives in Political Discourse

Alma-Pierre Bonnet is Senior Lecturer in British Studies at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, France.

“Bonnet lifts the veil on contemporary political narratives and reveals, through an innovative and highly illuminating use of Multimodal Critical Narrative Analysis, how human and AI generated rhetoric, propaganda, scientific symbolism, gesture, action, and art have transformed our politics as never before. This book serves as an indispensable companion for academics, practitioners, and students in navigating a rapidly changing and bewildering world increasingly dominated by social media and AI.”Michael Drolet, Worcester College, University of Oxford, UK“This is an excellent and methodologically innovative study of political storytelling as a mechanism of influence in today’s world. In examining both traditional and digital communication, it offers an acutely relevant analytical framework for making sense of political discourse in an era defined by populism and digitally mediated messaging.”Philip Seargeant, The Open University, UK

• 1. Introduction Part 1: Theoretical Framework 2. Political communication and the expression of power 3. The narrative format in (digital) political communication 4. Multimodal critical narrative analysis Part 2: Methodology 5. Analysing narratives critically in (digital) political discourse: A multimodal methodology Part 3: Case Studies 6. Introduction to the Case Studies Part 3.1: Political narratives 7. Keir Starmer’s political narratives ahead of the 2024 general election: Reconnection through “stability and moderation” 8. The evening Donald J. Trump blitzkrieged Truth Social 9. JD Vance’s Facebook narratives during the 2024 US presidential election 10. Religiosity at the service of party rebranding: The use of “family narratives” by opposition leaders in the United Kingdom Part 3.2: Narratives in times of crisis 11. A multimodal critical narrative analysis of Emmanuel Macron’s addresses to the nation 12. British Conservative leaders’ narratives: From crisis to crisis without loss of enthusiasm Part 3.3: Strategic narratives 13. How Georges W. Bush narrativized the War in Iraq 14. How Barack Obama narrativized his new Grand Strategy 15. How Vice-President Kamala Harris established a strong ethos at the annual Munich Security Conference Part 3.4: Political ideologies and worldviews 16. Tory leaders’ populist narratives: From Brexit to the culture wars 17. A multimodal critical narrative analysis of a potential “Brexit conspiracy” 18. Conclusion