Rhetorical Leadership - Professor Dennis Grube
What our political leaders say matters. Political rhetoric is sometimes derided in popular discourse as nothing more than ‘empty words’, but those words give shape to our perceptions of political reality. Words are powerful things. This course will examine the role played by political rhetoric in established democracies, and in particular the ways in which leaders use rhetoric to give shape to policy debates, to draw distinctions with political opponents, and to unify the nation during a crisis. The ability to communicate persuasively at multiple levels emerges as one of the central traits expected of modern leaders. The course begins with an examination of what political rhetoric is and how it is intertwined with our understanding of politics. We then move to look at scholarship on democratic leadership and assess how leaders make use of rhetoric in strategic ways to circumvent political institutions, combat political opponents, and set out policy goals. The course finishes by examining the ways in which storytelling and the construction of narratives gives shape to political debates.