Changing Russian Presidential Discourse on the example of Putin's inaugural speeches: results of quantitative content analysis

This article examines V. V. Putin's discourse from the point of view of its semantic content – the values voiced by the president, a view on the further development of the country, setting goals, etc. The object of the study is the inaugural speeches of the President of Russia, and the subject is the narrative aspect of these speeches. The article hypothesizes that the semantic accents in the inaugural speeches of the head of state changed in accordance with the domestic and foreign policy situation and in later speeches became more focused on foreign policy problems, as well as had a more conservative orientation. The purpose of the work is to identify changes in the narrative aspect of Vladimir Putin's inaugural speeches and evaluate them in the context of changes in the political situation in the country and the world. During the research, methods such as quantitative content analysis (performed separately for each text), comparative analysis, and graphical modeling were used. The authors concluded that over time, the presidential discourse considered on the example of inaugural speeches has undergone significant semantic changes. The share of values characteristic of conservative ideology has become higher in later speeches. At the same time, the presence of liberal democratic narratives in recent speeches has been minimal. The President's speeches have become more focused on global foreign policy issues, as well as security issues. The authors associate these changes with changes in the country's foreign and domestic policy. In the 2000s, it is necessary to build a free democratic society, as well as solve the problems of poverty and terrorism. However, after overcoming these problems, the state and the president are faced with the tasks of maintaining living standards, maintaining power and opposing Western countries. All this was reflected in V. V. Putin's rhetoric.

Content analysis, discourse, Russia, President, inaugural address, values, goals, unity, stability, history