Linguistic Strategies Applied to Create a Positive Image of a Politician

The quest for power is central issue in political discourse. One of the most effective ways to seize and hold power by a politician is creating a positive image for the constituents. Forming an image is a part of discourse, which is both socioculturally driven and capable of reinforcing specific attitudes in society. Such characteristics pave the way for various manipulative strategies that a politician may adopt, while achieving their goal. Critical Discourse Analysis offers methods to reveal such strategies and contributes to emancipating of individuals with the help of intellectual thought. Although the area of critical discourse studies is expanding, the works concerning the bulk of Russian texts are still rare and leave behind the cultural aspect and the issue of image formation separately. In this regard, the current paper revisits how Russia’s current President Vladimir Putin continues to create his image and hold the power through linguistic strategies, considering most recent speeches given by him in 2019-2020. Current research employs qualitative methods within the framework of critical discourse analysis, which include components of semantic and pragmatic interpretation of text, as well as contextual analysis. The analysis confirms that various strategies of legitimization and delegitimization are actively applied in the image formation and match the ideological structures of discourse aimed at polarizing between the ingroup and outgroup. This study contributes to the field of critical discourse analysis by revealing linguistic strategies recently applied by Russian President in order to create his positive image and by distinguishing sociocultural drivers behind them, adopting Hofstede’s concept of cultural dimension. It may be found useful in further diachronic research studying changes in discursive topics and strategies adopted by the politician during all years of Putin's presidency.