Arts of Leadership: Part 3 - Language of Leaders

In the last issue I spoke about the idea of 'stability', an idea thrown about a lot during the election. It is in terms of language that I want to talk about stability in this issue.

Some theorists have sought to put language at the centre of political struggle. The Russian theorist Voloshinov spoke about language in terms of a 'struggle for meaning'. For him, the meanings of verbal signs act as an arena for class struggles (Voloshinov, 1973). Any society's elites or rulers try to control the meanings of language, signs & utterances; in order that they might control the ideas expressed with them.

In this way, the Conservative Party and their supporting media outlets gained control of the language of the 2010 UK General Election before it even began. So firmly were they in control that they were able to break a Liberal Democrat poll charge before it ever really took off. The major tool they used here, in tandem with their major opponent, the Labour Party, was the word 'stability'.

I discussed last week the lack of evidence behind the Tory stability claims and their use instead of ambiguous statement instead. Mr Cameron has also made good use of language tactics to manage his image, even back during the race for the Conservative Leadership against David Davies (New Statesman, 2010). But this image control was moulded by time on the opposition benches observing a true master of self image, Mr Blair (YouTube, 2006).

Mr Blair's well-documented ability to control the language, and there-in image, of the party under his control is no better observed than in his book. Michael Meacher, speaking to The Mirror, described Mr Blair's book as:

'delusional" and "abounded with his self-righteousness, his constant spin to gloss over his real motives'.
                (Beattie & Lyons, 2010)

As Ferdinand de Saussure explains (de Saussure, 1916) language creates 'ways of organising the world'. It is this world of signs, contexts and determining through them the meaning of the world, that Voloshinov proposed the 'struggle for meaning'.

As Mr Blair seeks to do with memoirs, as Mr Cameron achieved in his Election Campaign, a political message must be crafted through careful manipulations of signs, as in words, phrases and utterances. All of this must be used in relevant contexts to create a coordinated image of the world for followers to buy into. It is through these slights-of-hand, bringing together all the misdirections and confuscations previously mentioned; that leaders try to control not just the debate, but the arena in which the debate takes place.

All of this is crystallised in the managed lines of political clashes, packeted pieces of quote-worthy one-upmanship. It is this political point-scoring approach that is the pinnacle of the word by word political battle. It is also the source of much disgust with politics, such as Rufus Hound's response to how susceptible the crowd at a Young Voters Question Time were to such tactics (BBC, 2010).

However language is integral to leaders in the current era. We live in the information age where the sound bites and point scoring that annoys many is none-the-less an astoundingly effective tool. As long as it works, politicians will see no reason not to do it, because a politician who isn't trying to sell you their ideas, isn't really doing their job.

It is then up to you, dear reader, to maintain your own vigilance against these methods.

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References:
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+ Valentin Voloshinov's 'Marxism and the Philosophy of Language';
Harvard University Press, 1973.

+ John Parrington's 'In Perspective: Valentin Voloshinov';

+ Time Trumpet's 'Blair vs Cameron' on YouTube; 2006;

- The Conservatives and Conservative Media talk Stability:
 Calum Ross's 'Conservative Leader Pledges Stability'
 Peter Oborne's 'Amoral spiv or true traditional Tory?...'
 BBC's 'Cameron pledges 'dynamic' economy'
 Robert Winnett's 'Coalition government deal Promises Stability...'

+ New Statesman's 'David Cameron, 2005';

+ Jason Beattie & James Lyons' 'Tony Blair book A Journey attacked as "delusional and bonkers"';

+ Tony Blair's 'A Journey';
 Hutchinson, 2010. [Paperback - A Journey] [Hardback - A Journey]

+ Ferdinand de Saussure's 'Course in General Linguistics';
 Peter Owen, 1916.

+ Samantha Ashenden's 'Structuralism & Post-Structuralism';
 in Austin Harrington's (ed) 'Modern Social Theory: An Introduction';
 Oxford University Press, 2005.

+ BBC's 'Young Voters Question Time'; 20 October 2010