A case is made for cultural political economy (CPE) by exploring the constitutive role of semiosis in economic and political activities, economic and political institutions, and social order more generally. CPE is a post-disciplinary approach that adopts the �cultural turn� in economic and political inquiry without neglecting the articulation of semiosis with the interconnected materialities of economics and politics within wider social formations. This approach is illustrated from the emergence of the knowledgebased economy as a master discourse for accumulation strategies on different scales, for state projects and hegemonic visions, for diverse functional systems and professions, and for civil society

This article explores the implications of making the cultural turn in the engagement of economic and political geography with issues of political economy. It seeks to steer a path between a fetishistic, reified economics that naturalizes economic categories and a soft economic sociology that focuses on the similarities between economic and other socio-cultural activities at the expense of the specificity of the economic. We show how combining critical semiotic analysis with an evolutionary and institutional approach to political economy offers one interesting way to achieve this goal. An evolutionary and institutional approach to semiosis enables us to recognize the semiotic dimensions of political economy at the same time as establishing how and why only some economic imaginaries among the many that circulate actually come to be selected and institutionalized; and Marxian political economy enables us to identify the contradictions and conflicts that make capital accumulation inherently improbable and crisis-prone, creating the space for economic imaginaries to play a role in stabilizing accumulation in specific spatio-temporal fixes and/or pointing the way forward from recurrent crises. The paper illustrates these arguments with a case study on the Flemish �anchoring strategy� as a specific regional economic development strategy. It concludes with a set of guidelines for the further development of cultural political economy

This study develops and validates the Cultural-Ideological Linguistic Model (CILM), a framework for analyzing political discourse strategies across diverse cultural and political contexts. Combining macro-level sociopolitical factors (political systems, conflict involvement, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions) with micro-level linguistic analysis (hedging and boosting strategies), the model examines how power dynamics shape diplomatic communication and how these linguistic choices are filtered through media reception. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research compared U.S., U.K., and Iraqi political briefings, revealing distinct discourse patterns: U.S. officials employ boosting for dominance (18.7/1k words) and hedging for flexibility (12.4/1k words); Iraqi discourse favors hedging (22.1/1k words) for conflict mitigation, while U.K. communication balances both for consensus-building. The study identifies cultural-linguistic interfaces, showing that individualist cultures correlate with directness, while high power distance predicts hedging frequency. Empirical validation demonstrates how macro-context (e.g., unipolar power position) shapes micro-linguistic choices (e.g., U.S. “unequivocally” vs. Iraqi “possibly”), mediated by journalistic reception norms (media-political relationships, conflict proximity). The findings challenge universalist assumptions in political discourse analysis, highlighting culture-specific risk management in international relations. The CILM advances theoretical debates in critical discourse analysis, pragmatics, and cross-cultural communication, offering practical tools for diplomacy, media analysis, and conflict resolution.

This chapter offers a practical analysis of extracts from both Arabic political speeches and public discourse in the context of the Arab Spring. This guide takes us through the application of key discourse analysis concepts and tools that are deemed relevant to understanding different dynamics of Arabic discourse. It also offers a clear insight into the notion of framing and positioning in the context of Arabic discourse. New concepts and terminologies such as personification, individualisation, collectivisation, foregrounding, backgrounding, metaphors and personal pronouns, amongst others, are also introduced and discussed at length.

Abstract This paper examines the influence of cultural display rules on how high-status individuals, such as political leaders, publicly express anger. Specifically, it focuses on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been the Turkish leader since 2003. The study aims to understand the extent to which Erdoğan’s expression of anger is influenced by cultural display rules, the religious context stemming from his conservative electoral support, and his position as a long-term populist political leader. Using extended conceptual metaphor theory (ECMT) supported by corpus-assisted discourse analysis, the paper seeks to identify the contextual factors that shape anger expressions (both direct and metaphorical) in the political discourse of a populist leader in a collectivist culture. By comparing the conceptualization of ascribed anger and inscribed anger expressions, the analysis reveals that Erdoğan’s discourse presents two distinct scenarios for expressing anger toward ‘us’ and ‘others’. Additionally, it demonstrates how anger is strategically employed in culture-specific ways to navigate the challenges posed by conflicting contextual factors.

This study aims to critically examine how CNBC News and CNN News Indonesia portrayed Russia's military actions in Ukraine through the lens of Fairclough's socio-cultural dimension of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), specifically focusing on political, economic, and cultural perspectives. Using a qualitative methodology, the analysis of selected articles from both media outlets between February and August 2022 revealed that both media outlets propagated justifications for Russia’s military actions, citing geopolitical and national security concerns. For instance, the media described Russia’s actions as defensive responses to NATO's affiliations with the United States and perceived economic threats related to food and energy security. However, the analysis also uncovered differences in framing economic impacts. CNN News Indonesia highlighted immediate humanitarian and economic crises, whereas CNBC News emphasized long-term global economic implications. This research underscores the media’s influential role in shaping public perceptions of geopolitical conflicts in Indonesia.

Objectives: This article explores how censorship and self-censorship shape political discourse in Iraqi social media posts and blogs. It focuses on how users avoid or encode taboo topics—such as criticism of powerful parties, militias, and security institutions—through euphemisms, omissions, and indirect reference. Methods: Using a corpus of 1.2 million posts and comments from Iraqi Twitter, Facebook pages, and independent blogs (2018–2024), the study applies named-entity recognition, keyword-based topic modelling, and pattern mining to identify both explicit and obfuscated references to political actors and events. It constructs lexicons of “direct terms” (official names, titles) and “evasions” (nicknames, code words, metaphors) through iterative annotation. Temporal analysis compares the use of direct versus obfuscated language around key political events, while qualitative close reading grounds the statistical patterns in concrete examples of online speech. Results: The analysis reveals systematic strategies of self-censorship: users avoid naming certain actors directly, substitute descriptive phrases or initials, and rely on shared code words that outsiders might miss. Peaks of euphemistic language coincide with periods of heightened repression, harassment, or online trolling. At the same time, overtly critical discourse persists in semi-anonymous and diasporic spaces. Conclusions: The article argues that combining NLP techniques with grounded reading can help map the “shadow vocabulary” of Iraqi political talk online and clarify how fear, risk, and creativity shape digital expression. It also highlights the ethical responsibility of researchers working with such sensitive data, especially regarding anonymity, re-identification risks, and potential harm to vulnerable speakers.

Political discourse is generally assumed to deal with politics, on issues such as policies, power and ideology; however, it also involves cultural issues, thus playing a role in cultural transmission and cultural identity construction. The international addresses delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping in and outside China are good examples of political discourse that take culture into account. In President Xi’s international addresses, he quoted extensively from Chinese culture to construct an identity of a peace-loving China that seeks peaceful and harmonious co-existence with other nations. How President Xi constructed Chinese cultural identity as a peace-loving nation is of much research interest. To answer this question, we built a corpus of President Xi’s international addresses, which is composed of 145 texts of English versions delivered between 2013 and 2022 on various occasions. We investigated how Chinese cultural identity is constructed in translated political discourse by means of corpus analysis. By analyzing the high-frequency content words, the first-person plural pronoun “we”, LDA topic modeling, and sentiment, we found that a Chinese cultural identity of a peace-loving nation that seeks harmonious relationships with other countries had been constructed in President Xi’s international addresses. Based on the corpus-driven analysis, it is argued that political discourse can also serve as a good channel to construct cultural identity.

In chapter 4, we conducted a micro-analysis of speeches and discourses, and we offered some practical analysis and methodological steps for applying different discourse analysis concepts and tools that are vital to understanding the function of discourse. In this chapter, the discursive practices of two main actors will be examined and analysed. Firstly, Arab leaders’ strategies and discourses in response to the Arab Spring will be carefully examined to identify the type and nature of discourses used and the shift in their discursive practices. It demonstrates how shifts in discourse shape and are shaped by the reality on the ground, and how shifts in the balance of power affects leaders’ speeches and discursive practices and their argumentation. Secondly, this chapter offers an insight into the discursive practices and strategies of the Arabic public (protesters) during the Arab Spring. It examines their response to different leaders’ discourses and strategies.

Abstract This chapter uses as a case Spanish cities such as Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao, Seville, Valencia and Barcelona, to explore the role that degrowth social movement actors and ideas have played in protest action directed at the tourism sector in recent years. The authors identify important episodes of contestation in which degrowth activists have been present. Particularly after 2015, the Neighbourhood Assembly for Sustainable Tourism, a degrowth-inspired association made up of grassroots organizations, assemblies and groups, has made several efforts to reduce the flow of tourists to Barcelona in an attempt to reverse the damaging social, economic, cultural and environmental effects that mass tourism is having on the city. In its attempt to explore various degrowth issues, the chapter sets out a conceptual framework that draws from key literature in the field of political discourse analysis, Althusserian treatment of ideology and interpellation, and work on degrowth and tourism.

The research was conducted entirely within the auspices of the Media Discourse Group.This book chapter examines the attack, mounted by elements of the trans-national liberal elite, on those forms of 'populism' which seem the threaten the electoral prospects of centrist political parties. The analysis is based upon the thesis that these social forces are less concerned with economic justice, than with the circulation of 'progressive' cultural tropes and discourses. A qualitative analysis of uses of the term 'community' in political discourse, is allied with a critique of 'dominant' political groups in order to substantiate the proposition that the elite is actually determinedly populist in its own uses of political rhetoric

This paper endeavors to shed light on the rhetorical and persuasive techniques used by the current Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in his victory speech. It also explores the expression of ideology by Imran Khan after his victory in the general election of 2018. The convincing strategies are explored in this article which Khan exploited in his speech to persuade the people of Pakistan. The study identified different elements of political power in the said speech. This study is qualitative and utilizes the rhetoric of Aristotle, that is, pathos, ethos, and logos. It also explored the prediction strategy, positive self-portrayal and negative depiction of other politicians as manifested by the choice of personal pronouns by Imran Khan to change the political views and perception of the masses. The study revealed the intentional crafting of victory speech using the model of Aristotelian rhetoric and the application of the strategies of positive predication and self-appraisal, as well as the negative portrayal of opponent parties to persuade the public to support Imran Khan’s political agenda. Keywords: Aristotle, ideology, negative, persuasive and rhetorical techniques, positive, rhetoric

This research discusses the influence of the Sufi interpretation of the Qur'an in shaping cultural narratives and political discourses in Muslim society. This study addresses the under-explored influence of Sufism beyond its spiritual domain, specifically in cultural and political spheres. This study aims to fill this void by exploring how the Sufi interpretation of the Qur'an influences contemporary cultural identity and political dynamics. The methods used in this study are multidisciplinary approaches, including analysis of Sufi literature, art, and social practices. The study's findings suggest that Sufism has a significant role in shaping cultural narratives, promoting tolerance and social justice, and providing a framework of thought that influences political discourse in Muslim communities. This study recommends that future studies focus more on Sufism's contribution to Islamic political thought and its relevance in the modern context. This research also emphasizes the importance of considering the spiritual dimension in analyzing cultural and political phenomena to understand the role of religion in shaping the social and political landscape more comprehensively.

By employing the frameworks of McGee's discussion on the relationship between ideology and ideographs, Wander's approach to the identification of fact and negation in cultural analysis, and by addressing Arendt's question on the process of indoctrination in totalitarian regimes, this study examines the use of political slogans in Communist China from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. It discusses rhetorical impacts of these political slogans on transforming Chinese ideology from Confucianism to Maoism, and to Deng Xiaoping's pragmatism. The analysis indicates that political slogans are coined to meet the changing need of social conditions as well as the need of authorities to establish control. Moreover, the pervasive use of these political slogans has altered the face of Chinese culture and affected the Chinese thought pattern. The rhetorical strategies and techniques employed by Communist China resemble closely those employed by other totalitarian regimes.

Integrating cultural confidence into ideological and political education course of colleges is the main content of cultural quality construction in colleges. The current ideological and political education work in colleges has certain problems at the level of educational content, educational discourse and educational environment. Therefore, colleges should adopt strategies such as improving the educational content of cultural confidence, transforming the educational discourse and creating a quality campus culture, so as to improve the effect of ideological and political education while enhancing the cultural confidence of college students.

The integration of large language models into political discourse analysis creates new opportunities for comparative research, policy analysis, and civic technology, while introducing material risks for democratic accountability. This paper argues that cultural adaptation is a prerequisite for trustworthy deployment of large language models in political communication across diverse linguistic and institutional contexts. Current systems remain shaped by English dominant data, uneven multilingual coverage, and assumptions grounded in a narrow range of political institutions and discourse conventions, producing systematic errors when applied across cultures. We formalize cultural adaptation across translation, discourse, and ontology levels, identify recurring cultural failure modes in political NLP, and propose an operational evaluation matrix grounded in cultural fidelity, calibration, and democratic safety. Building on political text analysis, sociotechnical auditing, and cross cultural pragmatics, we outline methodological pathways including participatory dataset development, culturally aware transfer learning, and benchmark design that makes cultural adaptation empirically measurable. We conclude by clarifying governance constraints and scope conditions under which culturally adaptive political NLP can support democratic legitimacy.