Proofread this paper and change a few things

wnprl
timer Asked: Nov 8th, 2017

Question Description

  • "I'm curious about why you chose political legitimacy as your theory. It's not a bad one to pick, and you do a good job of explaining it and why it's relevant. I've just never had someone use that before. You could also have gone with an analysis of an announcement speech, for which there is research literature in the political communication field. I'm not saying you need to change, especially at this date, but I am impressed that you took the road that was probably a little more difficult. It's your choice, though, and, again, you've done a good job of explaining the theory and showing how and why it's relevant.
  • If you stick with this theory, I would recommend some more development of the analysis of the speech according to the theory. Right now you have a couple of examples that illustrate the theory--I would recommend that you double that.

Let me stress--the choice is yours. I don't think you want to redo the paper entirely, so if you develop the analysis more, you'll be fine.

One more recommendation: make sure to proofread your paper carefully. In fact, you might want to have someone else (a roommate, a classmate, or even someone at the Writing Lab) also give it a close proofread. This is something I recommend to everyone, including myself. When we're writing something, we know what's in our heads and what we mean to say. So sometimes (often) we're not the best proofreaders of our own work. I didn't give your paper a close proofread, but I noticed there were some missing words and other minor things that can be cleaned up easily and make the paper that much stronger."


My teachers advice ^^^^ so just correct the things she added

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Smith 1 Jacey Smith COMM 4345 12 October 2017 Ronald Reagan’s speech and political theories There are numerous political communication concepts that exist in the political science field of study which can all be used in the analysis of different works that have been brought forth by political leaders either in their speeches or other forms of written works. This paper seeks to analyze the annunciation of candidacy reelection speech by the fortieth president of America Ronald William Reagan based on the political legitimacy concept. Political legitimacy concept Although there are many political communication theories, this paper examines the political legitimacy theory, which is basically a virtue of political institutions and the decisions pertaining laws and policies of candidates of political offices that are formulated in these political institutions. The term legitimacy refers to acceptance or recognition of a certain authority not only to its subjects but also to other relevant and external authorities as well. Political legitimacy is associated with the justification of coercive power and creation of a political authority, authority in this case being the ability to rule or issue commands, and could be extended to enforcing these commands using coercive power. Political legitimacy influences obligation to obey political authority. Although some people may argue that a legitimate political authority does not determine the willingness to obey commands, it is relevant that an accepted authority shall have most of the people adhering to its political commands. Smith 2 To determine these beliefs on political authority and political obligations, political legitimacy is interpreted descriptively. Different sociologists such as Max Weber evaluated this theory of political communication as being based on beliefs, since the whole idea of a political regime legitimacy is based on the faith that people have held in regard to that regime. The willingness to oblige to the political regime is also based on belief. He also goes ahead to explain that the acceptance of an authority and the need to obey its commands is influenced by tradition, charismatic leaders or just the trust of an authority’s legality. When evaluated according to the normative concept, political legitimacy is defined as the acceptance and justification of a relevant authority or political regime with only the possibility of political obligation but not a guarantee as in the descriptive concept of Max Weber. In this concept, the legitimacy of a political authority and the possibility of an obligation to their political commands depends on the justification of the coercive political power. This concept, therefore, argues that an authority can be effective, even when it is not legitimate and on the other hand, a legitimate authority can issue commands, which the subjects are not obliged to obey (Fernando, & Lawrence, 2014). This basically means that unlike in the descriptive concept where legitimacy goes hand in hand with political obligation, the normative concept views legitimacy and political obligation as separate entities, with legitimacy being linked to justice or justification of the political power a certain authority applies. Political legitimacy normative concept has been analyzed severally in attempt to determine the distinction between legitimacy and justice and evaluate the relationship between the two. When the difference between legitimacy and justice is blurred, literature argues that although there are many unjust authorities, only a just authority is morally acceptable and thus Smith 3 legitimate (Habermas, 2015). This is because the justification of the political power exercised is appealing to the subjects and they accept the authority in power. However, there are other explanations that give a distinction between legitimacy and justice. Such are the realist theory of political science which argues that although the two are related, they have different domains and legitimacy makes weaker demands than justice. The theory also points out that an authority may be legitimate but unjust. Political legitimacy is a political communication theory that attempts to bring to the surface the thoughts of different analysts so as to explain the difference between effective authority and legitimate authority (Scharpf, 2015). Ronald Reagan’s announcement for candidacy speech On the twenty-ninth of January the year nineteen eighty-four, Ronald Regan gave his speech to the nation announcing the Reagan- Bush candidacy for reelection as the fortieth president of the United States of America. In his speech, Reagan spoke of the far they had come together as the American nation and the special bond of kinship that he developed with each one of the American citizens (Troy, 2013). Based on his first inaugural speech on the twentieth of January the year nineteen eightyone when he said that the government is not the solution to the country’s problems but the cause, Reagan looked back recalling the state in which the country was when he up took the office of president. He spoke of the economic strains due to the depression, the weakness of the country’s defense forces as well as the humiliation they suffered. He also spoke of the issue of taxation and the interest rates which had really affected the costs of living. Smith 4 Reagan in his speech of reelection also spoke of the improvements that his government had made in lowering inflation, reducing the interest rates by almost half, catering for housing at affordable costs as well as the creation of numerous job opportunities. The control of sending by the government and the maintenance of peace in the country and emphasis on religion are also other improvements that his government had made. However, Reagan viewed his work as not yet complete and for this reason, he sought reelection from the American citizens. Application of political legitimacy theory in Reagan’s speech In his speech, Reagan addressed certain issues that pertain the political legitimacy theory of political communication. For instance, when he spoke of the way the Americans met Dr. Warren’s challenge of acting worthy of themselves to make America great as he had requested in his inaugural speech shows the willingness to obey this political obligation. Reagan then went ahead to praise the Americans for supporting him in pulling America out of its nightmare by which he portrayed legitimacy of his government through the support he received from the American citizens. Looking at both the normative and descriptive concepts of the political legitimacy theory of political communication, the legitimacy of a government is connected to the citizens’ willingness to oblige to political obligations. This aspect is definite in Reagan’s speech when he expressed that the government had managed to solve most of the issues that the country was facing by the time Ronald Reagan assumed the office of the president. Such include attaining the dignity of work, the warmth of family as well as the strength of neighborhood. The other relation that there is between Ronald’s speech and the political legitimacy theory is that justice has a very close relation to legitimacy. In his speech, Reagan pointed out the Smith 5 nourishment of human freedom, which basically means that his government allowed justice for the American citizens, thus they found Reagan’s government morally acceptable thus legitimate. The development of kinship feeling is also an evidence that there was moral acceptance of the government by the American citizens, thus willingness to develop America. In conclusion, there is a great relationship between Ronald’s speech and the political legitimacy theory in the aspect of acceptance of and working in association with the government by the citizens. Smith 6 References Fernando, S., & Lawrence, S. (2014). A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CSR PRACTICES: INTEGRATING LEGITIMACY THEORY, STAKEHOLDER THEORY, AND INSTITUTIONAL THEORY. Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research, 10(1). Habermas, J. (2015). Inclusion of the other: Studies in political theory. John Wiley & Sons. Scharpf, F. W. (2015). Political legitimacy in a non-optimal currency area. Democratic politics in a European union under stress, 20-44. Troy, G. (2013). Morning in America: how Ronald Reagan invented the 1980's. Princeton University Press.
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