Abstract
This chapter introduces two types of methods of textual analysis by dealing with an empirical case (the state of the union discourses of the Bush Jr. and Obama administrations). The first part demonstrates the interest of using statistical textual analysis to explore voluminous corpus of texts, test assumptions, identify major lexical worlds and increase methodological rigor of textual data analysis. The second set of methods comes from political theory, with a focus on specific textual dimensions: classical or Straussian approach (the exegesis of texts), neo-Marxism (the linguistic structure of hegemony), Cambridge school or Skinnerian perspective (the usage of linguistic conventions in conceptual and historical contexts). By linking these two kinds of methods, the chapter intends to show the advantages of cross-fertilization between quantitative and qualitative tools for understanding political discourses.
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Notes
- 1.
It is surprising to see that certain political analysts do not take this major aspect into consideration. On this point, see the introduction to the collective work directed by Johanna Siméant, Guide de l’enquête globale en sciences sociales (Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2015), pp. 5–11.
- 2.
We deliberately chose these two contrasting methodological matrices to suggest possible links and an exchange between varying perspectives.
- 3.
On the notion of assemblage, see Michele Acuto and Simon Curtis (eds), Reassembling International Theory. Assemblage Thinking and International Relations (London: Palgrave, 2013).
- 4.
Max Reinert , “Mondes lexicaux stabilisés et analyse statistique de discours,” Actes des neuvièmes journées internationales d’analyse statistique de données textuelles JADT, Lyon, France, 2008.
- 5.
IRaMuTeQ is an open-source software based on Reinert’s method and developed by Pierre Ratinaud. The software and instruction manual can be downloaded at: www.iramuteq.org/
- 6.
Laurent Beauguitte, France Guérin-Pace and Yann Richard, “L’UE et ses voisinages: acteurs et espaces d’un discours,” paper presented at the Fronts et frontières des sciences du territoire colloquium, Paris, March 27–28, 2014.
- 7.
For example, Cécile Alduy and Stéphane Wahnich, Marine Le Pen prise aux mots. Décryptage du nouveau discours frontiste (Paris, Seuil, 2015).
- 8.
The texts must be written in the same language, and the researcher must have mastered it and be in a position to detect linguistic subtleties.
- 9.
For example, declensions of a verb, and the singular and plural of a noun are classified under the same lexical entry (a lemma).
- 10.
A concordancer is a tool proposed by software that puts words in their enunciative context.
- 11.
Leo Strauss , What is Political Philosophy And Other Stories? (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959), p. 10. On the context, see Leo Strauss, La Persécution et l’art d’écrire (Paris: Éditions de l’éclat, 2003 [1952]).
- 12.
Corinne Pelluchon, “Leo Strauss et George Bush,” Le Banquet, 19–20, December-January 2004, pp. 238–292. For a point of debate, see Anne Norton, Leo Strauss et la politique de l’empire américain (Paris: Denoël, 2006 [2004]). Robert Howse, Leo Strauss. Man of Peace (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
- 13.
Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (New York: International Publishers, 1970), pp. 20–21.
- 14.
Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (New York (N. Y.), Macmillan, 1913).
- 15.
See in particular his study of Lorenzetti’s fresco (see Chap. 4 of this book).
- 16.
Quentin Skinner , Visions of Politics, 1, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 86–87.
- 17.
Claude Gauthier, “Texte, contexte et intention illocutoire de l’auteur. Les enjeux du programme méthodologique de Quentin Skinner,” Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 2(42), (2004): 175–192.
- 18.
Another orientation consists in identifying a great historical fresco. See R. Koselleck, “Einleitung,” in O. Brunner, W. Conze and R. Koselleck (eds), Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe: Historisches lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland 1, at XIV.
- 19.
For an example, see Frédéric Ramel, “Perpetual Peace and the Idea of “Concert” in Eighteenth-Century Thought,” in Damien Mahiet, Mark Ferraguto and Rebekah Ahrendt (eds), Music and Diplomacy from the Early Modern Era to the Present (New York (N. Y.): Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp. 125–146.
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Baillat, A., Emprin, F., Ramel, F. (2018). On Words and Discourse: From Quantitative to Qualitative. In: Devin, G. (eds) Resources and Applied Methods in International Relations. The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61979-8_11
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