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REPRESENTING SOCIAL ACTORS IN KEIR STARMER
Abstract
Abstract
Political resignation speeches play a significant role in constructing leadership, accountability, anddemocratic continuity during periods of political transition. However, they have received comparativelylittle scholarly attention, particularly through Van Leeuwen's Social Actor Theory. This researchinvestigates how Keir Starmer represents social actors in his resignation speech to construct politicalidentity, responsibility, legitimacy, and collective action. Adopting McKee's (2003) textual analysis as themethod of analysis and Van Leeuwen's (2008) Social Actor Theory as the theoretical framework, theanalysis focuses on representational strategies including inclusion and exclusion, role allocation,personalization and impersonalization, assimilation and individualization, nomination and categorization,and genericization and specification. The findings reveal that Starmer strategically foregrounds himself,the Labour Party, democratic institutions, and the British public while backgrounding political opponentsand internal critics. He further allocates agency to balance personal accountability with collectivegovernance and employs representational choices that reinforce legitimacy, solidarity, and democraticcontinuity. The findings support existing Critical Discourse Analysis research by demonstrating thatpolitical discourse strategically constructs leadership and legitimacy through the representation of socialactors. The research highlights the value of Van Leeuwen's Social Actor Theory for analyzing politicalresignation speeches and suggests that such speeches function as strategic discourses through whichpolitical leaders negotiate accountability, preserve institutional legitimacy, and maintain public confidenceduring leadership transitions.
Political resignation speeches play a significant role in constructing leadership, accountability, anddemocratic continuity during periods of political transition. However, they have received comparativelylittle scholarly attention, particularly through Van Leeuwen's Social Actor Theory. This researchinvestigates how Keir Starmer represents social actors in his resignation speech to construct politicalidentity, responsibility, legitimacy, and collective action. Adopting McKee's (2003) textual analysis as themethod of analysis and Van Leeuwen's (2008) Social Actor Theory as the theoretical framework, theanalysis focuses on representational strategies including inclusion and exclusion, role allocation,personalization and impersonalization, assimilation and individualization, nomination and categorization,and genericization and specification. The findings reveal that Starmer strategically foregrounds himself,the Labour Party, democratic institutions, and the British public while backgrounding political opponentsand internal critics. He further allocates agency to balance personal accountability with collectivegovernance and employs representational choices that reinforce legitimacy, solidarity, and democraticcontinuity. The findings support existing Critical Discourse Analysis research by demonstrating thatpolitical discourse strategically constructs leadership and legitimacy through the representation of socialactors. The research highlights the value of Van Leeuwen's Social Actor Theory for analyzing politicalresignation speeches and suggests that such speeches function as strategic discourses through whichpolitical leaders negotiate accountability, preserve institutional legitimacy, and maintain public confidenceduring leadership transitions.