Identifying and understanding the philosophical and historical context of Vladimir Putin's rhetoric through his New Year addresses

Abstract

As leader of the Russian Federation, a state with both a large military stockpile and veto power in the United Nations, it is important to understand who Vladimir Putin is as a leader. In order to do so, we must first identify and understand the contexts of Putin's leadership. One of the ways in which we can do that is by looking at his rhetoric. This thesis looks specifically at the language and recurrence of ideas in Putin's New Year Addresses. Given the cultural significance of this holiday to the Russian people and the holiday's own significance to Putin's presidency, it is a useful genre for identifying philosophical and historical context within his speeches. This thesis not only identifies the foundational elements of this genre of speech, but it is able to identify the shifts in rhetoric and understand the context behind them.