A Rhetorical Analysis of the Speeches of Pakistani Prime Ministers Delivered at United Nations General Assembly in The Last Decade

Abstract

In the domain of rhetorical analysis, numerous researchers from various disciplines have currently shown a keen interest in the study of rhetoric. Particularly, these previously conducted studies paid due attention to the study of political discourses in diverse contexts.  Therefore, the present study aims to record that how Pakistani political leaders use language to influence and address global problems in their speeches at international context. Moreover, the study analyzed political speeches delivered by Pakistani Prime Ministers at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the last decade. These political leaders from Pakistan include; Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Imran Khan, and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi respectively. Furthermore, the current study also aims to examine the rhetorical strategies used in these speeches, specifically emphasizing Aristotle's notions of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to comprehend their significance in political discourse(s). A descriptive-qualitative approach, particularly content analysis, is employed to analyze the rhetorical strategies and their implications in the arena of Political discourse analysis.  In the major findings of study, it is revealed that these speeches delivered by the aforementioned prime ministers, employed a range of rhetorical devices, viz. personal anecdotes, statistical data, emotional appeals, and logical arguments, to convey their communicative purposes effectively and informatively. It is pertinent to mention that, the study in hand also analyzed to unfold the ways in which these rhetorical strategies are crafted semantically and syntactically to enhance their persuasive power via language.  The findings also show that the chosen three Prime Ministers employed these rhetorical strategies in their speeches while similarities and differences were found in their approaches and implementations of the rhetorical strategies. For example, Shehbaz Sharif focused on credibility by using personal experience and statistics. Likewise, Imran Khan emphasized compelling emotions and logical arguments, and similarly Shahid Khaqan Abbasi emphasized ethical principles and global responsibility. Thus, these commonalities and differences highlight the diverse approaches of persuasion based on the global politics demands and preferences of the political speeches and the individual personalities of the leaders. Finally, this study suggests that future research would be conducted on other speeches by Prime Ministers Shehbaz Sharif, Imran Khan, and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in other contexts to further comprehend political discourse strategies and practices. 

 Keywords: Rhetorical Analysis, Prime Ministers, Speeches, United Nations General Assembly, Pakistani