<p> Growing polarization of political discourse in America has resulted in a populace and representatives that are ineffective in persuasive rhetoric and are in many cases at an impasse. With more politicians&mdash;and more Americans in general&mdash;using computer mediated social media to discuss politics, these media are no doubt having an effect on the way we conduct our political discourse. This study is an examination of the interactions related to four different posts on the social media Twitter and Facebook. The study includes a rhetorical analysis to determine how social media users engage in persuasive rhetoric according to Aristotle. The ensuing analysis demonstrates how social media have affected users as technological determinism suggests, and discusses behavioral markers and indicators. This analysis increases understanding of persuasive rhetoric and the effect of computer mediated social media. </p><p>

<p> Jeffery K. Tulis authored a book entitled <i>The Rhetorical Presidency</i>, in which he argues the role of the United States chief executive now centers on his, or her, ability to speak over Congress and directly to the public. A modern or contemporary president&rsquo;s ability to accomplish roles typically associated with the executive office is principally dependent on his/her implicit role: to appeal to public opinion. Presidential power comes from how effectively the chief executive can employ rhetorical discourse to affect change from the audience. This is an interesting concept for consideration, especially as it relates to contemporary President John F. Kennedy. In a 2013 <i> Gallup</i> poll, Americans rated Kennedy as the most outstanding, above average president in the contemporary era&mdash;the inception of which came around the turn of the 20<i>th</i> century. The primary inquiry, &ldquo;why is this so,&rdquo; can be answered through an examination into Kennedy&rsquo;s rhetorical discourse, specifically his foreign crisis speeches. This thesis&rsquo; primary analysis centers on Kennedy&rsquo;s address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 20, 1961 following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion on Cuba. Utilizing a unique analytic framework provided from the theoretical understandings of Lloyd F. Bitzer&rsquo;s <i> rhetorical situation</i> and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson&rsquo;s <i>rhetorical hybrids</i> model, with supplement aide from scholars such as Bonnie Dow and Denise Bostdorff, the aim is to provide value to the subject of rhetorical communication by researching, studying and analyzing an area of interest that has not received much to any scholarly emphasis in the past.</p><p>

In this rhetorical biography of Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), I explore the early construction of her philosophical and moral frameworks and the demographic factors which constrained and enabled the construction of her political identity. I proceed to address the question of identity construction as it relates to gender and political stereotypes and as it is enacted in various rhetorical situations. I examine Mikulski's conformance to female and male gender and political stereotypes, her use of the feminine style in deliberative rhetoric, her identity construction during campaign and debate, and the co-construction of her political identity by the media, opponents, and supporters. And finally, in each of these analyses, I assess the salience of gender. My findings indicate that Mikulski conforms to female stereotypes relating to substance and to male stereotypes relating to style. This pattern of conformance mitigates the double bind experienced by women in the political arena. Mikulski's use of the feminine style in deliberative rhetoric reveals a consistent pattern of usage during her twenty-four years in Congress. Several characteristics of the feminine style are more prominently featured on women's and constituent issues, and her usage appears to be responsive to two additional factors, length of speaking time and placement within the legislative process. In situations of campaign and debate, Mikulski approaches identity construction by recasting negative definitions and by relying heavily on reconstructing her relationship with constituents, even during anti-incumbent years. The media and supporter constructions of Mikulski's political identity are consonant with her constructions of self and, again, center on recalling and reestablishing relationships with various constituencies. Gender is found to be a significant variable in all aspects of the construction of Mikulski's political identity, but the constraints imposed by gender are met successfully by Mikulski with rhetorical strategies which either diminish the significance of gender or recast her gender as an asset.

<p> The purpose of this study is to explore global leadership communication competencies, as the communicative knowledge, skills and abilities of current business leaders do not meet the current sophisticated and fast-paced business demands of the interconnected global marketplace. Specifically, this study examines what attributes comprise communication competency for corporate leaders with global responsibilities, how those competencies are developed, and finally the impact the competencies have on organizations. A qualitative field study was conducted with two global leaders from two different regions of the world as they interacted with others from different cultures. A separate quantitative survey was administered to 95 global leaders from North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Findings from a review of the literature combined with the correlation of these two studies are as follows: (a) virtual communication efficacy may be greatly enhanced when the terms and conditions associated with non-verbal clues is deliberate and modeled by leadership; (b) foreign language competency is deemed more important by global leaders outside of North America, but all respondents report general dissatisfaction with the corporate support of foreign language competency; (c) the concept of facework, and its associated competencies, are key to working across borders but awareness and understanding of this concept is very low. The findings of this study demonstrate a business case for building global leadership communicative competency with new skills, in new ways, for new demands in the face-paced and interconnected business environment.</p>

The Internet has evolved as a major medium of information and communication; broadband connection especially enhances Internet's capacity as a virtual platform for social, economic, political and civil activities. The problem is there is a limited and skewed access to the Internet in South Africa. The slow growth of household Internet and fixed broadband is problematic for a country that aspires to be "an advanced information society in which information and ICT tools are key drivers of economic and societal development" (South African Broadband Policy 2010). This dissertation investigates the pattern of Internet penetration in South Africa. Largely, I explore the pattern of Internet penetration amongst university students; data were collected from 10 universities located in both rural and urban areas with other demographic qualities that are representative of the student population in South Africa. Following Mossberger, Tolbert & McNeal's (2008) use of the concept of digital citizenship, I rearticulate the concept as a citizenry with the fulfilled rights to regular and flexible access to the Internet—implicitly individual and household forms of access, the skills to use the Internet, and regular use of the Internet for participation in all spheres of society. I then develop a theoretical framework of digital citizenship by identifying five key elements, namely: citizenship rights, Internet access, Internet use, Internet/digital skills, and policy. These elements are used as measures to investigate the pattern of Internet penetration in South Africa. I conducted a survey amongst students, interviewed officials in government agencies in the communications sector, studied selected policy documents, and carried out digital skill experiments. From the findings, I argue that digital citizenship is largely nonexistent in South Africa, particularly amongst the university students. I claim that most of these students are partially digital . A partially digital person has limited access to the Internet, inadequate skills to apply this technology and as a result cannot efficiently use the Internet to participate effectively as a citizen in society. The study also reveals the skewed access to the Internet replicates the existing pattern of social inequalities in the country, often analyzed in terms of rural-urban inequalities, inequalities based on gender of household heads, family income, racial and population groups. I also claim that students from households that bear the brunt of social inequalities in South Africa are further deprived by the lack of access to the Internet, particularly household access, and the inability to effectively use the Internet. This deprivation means that their rights and abilities to participate in society as citizens using digital means are compromised. In conclusion, I offer recommendations towards achieving digital citizenship.

<p> Freshman Sen. William H. Seward of New York was not expected to say anything noteworthy in his "Freedom in the New Territories" speech against the Compromise bills on March 11, 1850. The venerated "Great Triumvirate" had previously addressed the Senate&mdash;Sen. Henry Clay on Jan. 29, Sen. John C. Calhoun on March 4, and Sen. Daniel Webster on March 7&mdash;so everything there was to say was thought to have been said. Seward's "Freedom in the New Territories" speech, however, is recalled as one of the more divisive of Compromise orations and most significant of Senate maiden speeches in history because of its appeal to "a higher law than the Constitution." The utterance drew a maelstrom of criticism from the partisan press and congressional adversaries and colleagues; however, Seward's rhetoric introduced a reformist interpretation of the phrase "higher law" to the slavery discourse. </p><p> This thesis applies concepts from the literature on rhetoric of agitation and control and ideographs to define Seward's rhetoric as managerial, show his motives as socio-economic, and discover how the senator's reformist arguments were controlled by the establishment after the Christiana Riot in 1851. The researcher suggests that the establishment employed a kind of denial of rhetorical means to obstruct Seward's reformist rhetoric of its solidifying slogans. Future research into the control response to agitative rhetoric is suggested to understand the strategies and tactics used to control reformist rhetoric. </p>