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

Smith, Angela, Higgins, Michael and McKay, Fiona (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 Pandemic: International Media Narratives of the Covid-19 Crisis. Palgrave, Basingstoke, pp. 177-196. ISBN 978-3-031-56661-5

Item Type: Book Section

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.

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More Information

Depositing User: Angela Smith

Identifiers

Item ID: 16300
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56662-2_9
ISBN: 978-3-031-56661-5
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/16300
Official URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-03...

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for Angela Smith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2013-8395

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 09 Aug 2023 15:38
Last Modified: 12 Aug 2024 09:00

Contributors

Author: Angela Smith ORCID iD
Author: Michael Higgins
Author: Fiona McKay

University Divisions

Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries > School of Media and Communications

Subjects

Culture > English Language and Literature

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