(De)Constructing Leadership through Ritualised Discourse

Abstract

This study deals with the notion of leadership, envisaged broadly as the quality of a head of
state to lead his people towards a common goal while conveying the image of a role-model
by both his actions and statements. During his presidential term, a head of state is
confronted with many institutionalised contexts where he is expected to issue an official
speech. From the numerous official speeches that a president is likely to deliver, I have
chosen to dwell on one of the most ritualised discursive sequences, namely the presidential
greetings on New Year’s Eve, in order to highlight how the presidential ethos is built
through discursive and extra-discursive elements. In this context, I have taken into account
the greetings of the Romanian ex-President, Traian Băsescu, from the period 2004-2013 (he
was elected twice) with a view to analysing both the purely discursive devices (speech acts,
appellatives, semantic content emphasized) and the extra-linguistic elements (place where
the discourse is delivered, communication channel). The analysis aims at answering the
following questions: Can we consider the presidential greetings and the choices made
within and outside the discourse itself as indirect evidence of the diminution of the public
support that the president had benefited from? Do the greetings emphasize the president’s
effort to adapt to his audience while maintaining the tradition of a well-established ritual?