The hidden statesman. The governmental ethos in Néstor Kirchner's presidencial public speeches

Abstract

This article discusses the construction of a governmental ethos in the public speeches of former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner in the early days of his tenure in the Executive. Discursive studies about Kirchnerism are considerable in number; the position which has prevailed, though, is one that ignores the institutional dimension of the Government’s project and its aspirations to become a worthy one not only for the popular sectors, but for the society as a whole, not excluding major socio-economic players. Within fashionable current trends in French discourse analysis, this paper analyzes the linguistic and non-verbal features of presidential messages, following the premise that research in the field should seek to explain those complexities involved in word and body communication. The preliminary conclusion is that there are three subjective dimensions (rational, ´autentical’ and democratic) in the design of a governmental ethos, thriving to provide the political leader of those universal qualities that make him legitimate his investiture. The political discourse analysis confirms, thus, its heuristic potential to account for the collective processes that structure social life.