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An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change
Climate change has a global impact on all sectors of life including politics and the economy; health and food security, social justice and media. There are stark contrasts in the political and scientific debates on climate change. The economic impacts have already gripped the attention of both the p...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for Film and Media Studies
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613183470993408 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Govender, Dayaneethi |
| author2 | Saleh, Ibrahim |
| author_browse | Govender, Dayaneethi Saleh, Ibrahim |
| author_facet | Saleh, Ibrahim Govender, Dayaneethi |
| author_sort | Govender, Dayaneethi |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Climate change has a global impact on all sectors of life including politics and the economy; health and food security, social justice and media. There are stark contrasts in the political and scientific debates on climate change. The economic impacts have already gripped the attention of both the political elite and science community, who also recognise the threats on the survival of the human population. Recent global climate change meetings such as the COPs are an indication that politics, and not necessarily science, is at the centre of this environmental challenge. In politics, policy debates are arguments over actions. It is therefore important to understand how the SA government communicates climate change given its status as a leading force in Africa and its insurmountable socio-economic challenges. With a theoretical understanding of Moral Foundation Theory, Steve Vanderheiden’s political theory that addresses climate change justice and framing theory and textual analysis, the researcher analyses President Jacob Zuma’s climate change speeches during COP to identify master narratives, given the president’s visibility and political direction at these high level meetings. This dissertation contributes to the lack of scholarship on how the president communicates climate change within the communication field and general shortage of presidential rhetoric in Africa. Zuma’s rhetoric on climate change indicates that SA’s priority is economic development and this will not be compromised by climate change policy that halts growth in developing nations. Zuma is clear that common but differentiated responsibilities must remain the cornerstone of climate change policy, if fairness, balance and equity are to be realised. He stands by this argument despite growing GHG emissions from some of the developing nations, including South Africa. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13683 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:06.010Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| publisherStr | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13683 An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change Govender, Dayaneethi Saleh, Ibrahim Political Communication Climate change has a global impact on all sectors of life including politics and the economy; health and food security, social justice and media. There are stark contrasts in the political and scientific debates on climate change. The economic impacts have already gripped the attention of both the political elite and science community, who also recognise the threats on the survival of the human population. Recent global climate change meetings such as the COPs are an indication that politics, and not necessarily science, is at the centre of this environmental challenge. In politics, policy debates are arguments over actions. It is therefore important to understand how the SA government communicates climate change given its status as a leading force in Africa and its insurmountable socio-economic challenges. With a theoretical understanding of Moral Foundation Theory, Steve Vanderheiden’s political theory that addresses climate change justice and framing theory and textual analysis, the researcher analyses President Jacob Zuma’s climate change speeches during COP to identify master narratives, given the president’s visibility and political direction at these high level meetings. This dissertation contributes to the lack of scholarship on how the president communicates climate change within the communication field and general shortage of presidential rhetoric in Africa. Zuma’s rhetoric on climate change indicates that SA’s priority is economic development and this will not be compromised by climate change policy that halts growth in developing nations. Zuma is clear that common but differentiated responsibilities must remain the cornerstone of climate change policy, if fairness, balance and equity are to be realised. He stands by this argument despite growing GHG emissions from some of the developing nations, including South Africa. 2015-08-10T06:45:55Z 2015-08-10T06:45:55Z 2015 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13683 eng application/pdf Centre for Film and Media Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Political Communication Govender, Dayaneethi An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change |
| title_full | An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change |
| title_fullStr | An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change |
| title_full_unstemmed | An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change |
| title_short | An analysis of the political rhetoric of South African President Jacob Zuma's speeches on climate change |
| title_sort | analysis of the political rhetoric of south african president jacob zuma s speeches on climate change |
| topic | Political Communication |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13683 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT govenderdayaneethi ananalysisofthepoliticalrhetoricofsouthafricanpresidentjacobzumasspeechesonclimatechange AT govenderdayaneethi analysisofthepoliticalrhetoricofsouthafricanpresidentjacobzumasspeechesonclimatechange |