Comparative Government

Research Project Number Two

Rhetoric and Power
For this research assignment you need to pick one person who has been a
charismatic political figure in the last hundred years. I want you to analyze the way
they portray their character and their power in their spoken and written word. You
may either pick one of their major speeches and dissect it or look at several
speeches and discuss general themes and rhetoric that has been a staple of their
rule. Make sure you discuss:
1) What kind of leader they want to be seen as.
2) How what they say reflects what they believe.
3) The particular words they often use, and why you think they choose to
define their rule with those words.
4) The hidden character displayed in their speeches- things they may not
have intended to express openly but can be seen through slip-ups or
indirect analysis.
5) How their personality is either unique in their nations history, or how they
try to connect themselves to a series of historic leaders through their
personality.
You will need to pick someone from a country that is different than the one you
researched for the last project.