Simplification in political communications

Abstract

The goal of political communications is to obtain, exercise and stay in power. The struggle for power and the implementation of political goals necessarily involves the use of manipulative techniques. This article deals, in particular, with the use of simplifications in political communications. The language of political communication not only reflects the political regime, but also determines the political discourse. In democratic countries, the discourse of politicians is very close to that of voters, while non-democratic elites try to emphasize their distance from ordinary citizens. Democratic leaders often simplify the political texts, which not only accelerates and intensifies the impact on the audience, simplifies communication between the people and the authorities, but also reduces the social distance between them. In the process of political simplifications, essential problems and arguments are pushed to the backstage, some problems are proclaimed as pseudo-problems, or it is pseudo-problems that are brought to the forefront. The use of simplifications reduces the scope and need for rational argumentation in political discourse. Simplifications are often used by populists, who replace rational argumentation with anti-elite and anti-pluralist slogans that emphasize social polarization in society and promise to get rid of the corrupt elites.

Content analysis of N. Pashinyan's Facebook page shows that N. Pashinyan not only generously uses various simplifications in his political communications (in particular: spontaneity and informality, selective presentation of information and facts, myths), but also creates his own simplification techniques, including: the exceptionalism, representation of the people as the central subject of political power, the belittlement of one's own role, responsibility shifting, logical inconsistencies, simplified interpretations of complex phenomena, conspiracy theories, threats and theatricalization.

Simplifications have proven to be effective in political struggles. However, the overuse of simplifications in political communications can cause simplifications to migrate from the ordinary language into educational, scientific, labor and, of course, political discourses, depriving them of rational argumentation.