Legitimisation Strategies in the Discourse of Political Actors of the Social Democratic Front Party (SDF) in Cameroon (1990-2020)

Abstract

This article sets out to examine the various means by which political actors of the SDF party in Cameroon justify their actions or proposals for action. The justification is achieved through legitimisation which recruits many available linguistic mechanisms as vehicles for the propagation and justification of ideologies and actions. The work is theoretically rooted in Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA) whose relevance lies in its capacity to carry out analysis of texts within the perspective of legitimisation strategies as proposed by Van Dijk (2005), Van Leeuwen (1996,2007),Van Leeuwen and Wodak (1999) and Beetham (2013). The data for this study is made up of excerpts of discourses authored by four (04) frontline politicians of the Social Democratic Front party. The analysis of the discourses of the Party indicates that the strategies used license political actors to legitimise or justify political action through authorisation, rationalisation, moral evaluation, mythopoesis and emotions. The legitimisation structures and strategies are carried out within the context of a homogenous ideology and mission. This ideology and mission aim primarily at assigning credibility to the SDF party and then go on to amplify and justify moves that focus on deligitimising the actions and deconstructing the achievements of the CPDM party.