The Humor in the Coordination Council of Russian Opposition: Communicative Strategies in Political Discourse

<p>Abstract</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Master&rsquo; thesis focuses on humor as the communication strategy in the political discourse and the tool of political problems&rsquo; representation. That&rsquo;s why we reveal the role of humor in the public speeches of Russian oppositionists. We show the essence and orientation of this humor. We systematized the scientific papers of well-known social scientists about the study subject. The main method of data analysis is quality and quantity of content analysis and expert interviews. At the same time of the Coordination Council meeting the oppositionists prefer to use Twitter as alternative platform of communication. In the most cases humor in Twitter is sarcastic and ironic. Besides, oppositionists are actively using a blog platform LiveJournal, there are they can share &nbsp;their ideas to the public. Humor in LiveJournal is aggressive, it has a negative tone. Moreover, this aggressive humor is focused on the colleagues of the Council, not on authority. At the meetings oppositionists joke two times less than in Twitter, and four times less in the LiveJournal blogs. The results of expert interviews show that the humor in current Russian politics is the important communication strategy; it is represented as weapons, technology of impact, manipulation and propaganda.</p>