Far-right parties and anti-immigration moods were on the rise in 2017 European politics. After Brexit vote and Donald Trump's triumph in the US elections, whole world was watching the 2017 French presidential election with great vigilance. Using the method of discourse analysis, the principal objective of this master thesis is to identify to what extent was the immigration constructed as security threat in presidential election and how did major presidential candidates use political discourse for identity construction - positive representation of French Self and negative representation of Migrant Other. For the purpose of analysis, first three presidential candidates with the largest share of votes were chosen: François Fillon, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. Concerning the theoretical framework, all research stems from Copenhagen school which defines vital concepts for our research: societal security and securitization process. From methodological point of view, Lene Hansen's Self/Other identity construction model is used. Keywords Securitization, Islam, migration, France, presidential election, discourse analysis, national identity

It is common knowledge that LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) communities experience disparate rates of mental health concerns, including greater levels of self-reported depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicidal behavior (Bränström, Hatzenbuehler, & Pachankis, 2016). As an example, gay and bisexual men are four times as likely and lesbian and bisexual women are 2 times as likely, to attempt suicide compared to heterosexual counterparts (King et al., 2008). Between 25-43% of transgender persons have a lifetime history of suicide attempts, compared to 5% of the general US population (Nock & Kessler, 2006). Such poor mental health outcomes may be due, in part, to a lack of acceptance by society in the form of discrimination and unequal rights, and to rejection by family, friends and the self, including internalized homophobia, concealment and shame (Skerrett, Kõlves, & De Leo, 2016). LGBTQ persons are also more likely to have experienced trauma, including physical and sexual abuse, as well as interpersonal violence by intimate partners, family and strangers (LangenderferMagruder, Whitfeld, Walls, Kattari, & Ramos, 2016). LGBTQ communities, therefore, constitute a vulnerable and marginalized population, who are already at risk for rejection and abuse with consequent deleterious effects on physical and mental health, including risk for suicide.

This thesis aims to provide analysis of chain emails during the second direct presidential election in the Czech Republic. The main goal of this work is to set out a semiotic analysis in order to provide detailed research of emails related to both candidates Miloš Zeman and Jiří Drahoš. The chain emails usually using a specific linguistic terms and persuasive procedures. Therefore, the attention will be paid mainly to linguistic and persuasive procedures which are identified. In order to examine the phenomenon the theoretical framework will be based on several key words and terms such as: chain emails, disinformation, hoax, semiotics, etc. Aforementioned, this work is aiming to provide a detailed overview of chain mails. In order to address the topic, I will approach the political background within the media context to present solid foundational analysis, which will conduct disinformation topics.

The thesis Anti-immigrant Rhetoric and the Concept of National Identity in the French Presidential Campaign in 2012 is focused on the political discourse of three main candidates of the French presidential campaign in 2012 (Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande). The aim of the research is to analyze the image of immigration and immigrants and on the other hand French and national identity in the discourse of the politicians. As methodological basis for the research critical discourse analysis was selected, completed by analysis of metaphors. The thesis is based on the theoretical framework composed of the following concepts: 1/ discursive reproduction of the racism by so called symbolic elites, 2/ new racism and 3/ construction of national identity. The thesis also presents the social and political context of the election. The main objective of the research is to answer the following research questions: How does the political discourse of presidential candidates deepen the gap between positive self-presentation and negative presentation of the others? And to which extent in the discourse of individual candidates can it be seen? The thesis describes specific topics, topoi and discursive strategies which are used by the candidates.

The presented Thesis "Political Communication and Politainment in the Presidential Election in the Czech Republic in 2013" analyses political communication in the historically first presidential election campaign in the Czech Republic. I saw the presidential election as an opportunity to research a new platform of political communication that politainment is. The primary aim of the Thesis is to introduce this concept in the context of the current nature of political communication and at the same time to identify variables defining this phenomenon in the Czech environment. Analysis of the elements of politainment is performed on campaigns of the two most successful candidates aspiring for the office of the President of the Czech Republic - Miloš Zeman and Karel Schwarzenberg. I focused primarily on the television appearance of both candidates in TV debates broadcasted by Czech Television, which were the climax of the entire presidential campaign. I was interested in the content of communication of both candidates and the overall character of the debates. The Thesis answers the following questions: What is political communication and its role in politics? How does its form change over time? Does personalisation of election campaigns result in the emergence of politainment as a phenomenon of political...

Political climates are undoubtedly changing across the nation and creating volatile fluctuations of attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. In a more entertaining season of presidential primaries, both parties – Democratic and Republican – have nominees that will once again be scrutinized by many across the country. I argue the levels of scrutiny will more likely than not be enhanced to new proportions. Since a consistent reliance on media involvement and attack ads have grown immensely amongst presidential candidates, this will translate into a wider gap in party polarization and subsequently tie into the trust of American citizens. Previous scholars have shown consistent data that political trust has no bearing on the actual turnout of presidential elections (Citrin 1974). But, historic distrustful ratings between major-party candidates may prove to alter political cultures for subsequent years. In this study, I thoroughly examine the growing significance of political trust on presidential voting in the United States.

This thesis aims to analyze the camping speeches of the two major candidates running for President of the Unites States in the 2020 general election and to inspect the ways in which both the candidates utilize the Us versus Them dichotomy. In doing so, the thesis provides a critique of the texts produced by the candidates and seeks to unveil their ideological motivation. As categorizing entities has a profound effect on the audience and their perception of reality, the goal is not only to unveil what entities the candidates discuss, but also to determine how they classify these entities. In addition, the strategies used by both the candidates to achieve entity evaluation are compared in order to contrast their rhetorical styles. The theoretical part of the thesis overviews concepts related to the construction of group identities and other ways of reproducing ideology in discourse. Furthermore, Hasan's approach to text analysis, which is employed in the analytical part, is introduced. A brief biography of both the candidates and a description of the US presidential election system are included as well. The analytical part is composed of Critical Discourse Analyses of selected topical segments from campaign speeches of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Special focus is dedicated to the strategies the...

In the aftermath of a Russian influence operations against the U.S. presidential election of 2016 there was a change in governmental behavior. Since it was not known whether learning processes had caused these behavioral changes, the study aimed to examine the lessons learnedas well as their implementation. By using process tracing as a method, this essay established a causal link between the situation at hand and crisis induced learning by the U.S. Government.The characteristics of lessons were then examined more closely, and explained using the theory of crisis induced learning. It was concluded that the crisis induced lessons were mostly singleloop, as the crisis to a limited extent highlighted flaws in societal premises. They were mainlyaimed at improving crisis response, because focusing on the antagonistic reasons behind the crisis was less fruitful. They were predominantly inter-crisis, because uncertainty, timepressure and stress made intra-crisis learning difficult. Finally, most lessons were distilled (not implemented), due to a shift in the government’s priorities. In the end, not all behavioral changes could be linked to governmental lessons learned, which calls for further research.

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