Definition
In the field of political communication, lobbying, and public affairs, rhetoric is involved in all those cases where leaders, candidates, lobbyists, or anyone else try to persuade their audiences or interlocutors of a point of any kind, typically by means of a speech. While lobbyists might find rhetoric useful in direct lobbying or in trying to “conquer” popular consent in the public discourse or in specific activities of grassroots lobbying (such as big rallies or public events), rhetoric is generally used in all forms of communication and in many different contexts (political and nonpolitical), such as parliamentary debates, rallies, hearings, trials, public events of different kinds, and social media communication.
Essentially, rhetoric can be defined as the art of effective speaking, or of persuasion through words. The word “rhetoric” can also refer to the study of the various techniques of such art, and that is why it can be described both as an art and a science.
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References
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Further Reading
Cicero, De Inventione.
Mortara Garavelli, B. (1988). Manuale di retorica. Milano: Bompiani.
Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria.
Reboul, O. (1991). Introduction à la rhétorique. Théorie et pratique. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
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Bitonti, A., Trupia, F. (2021). Rhetoric. In: Harris, P., Bitonti, A., Fleisher, C.S., Skorkjær Binderkrantz, A. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_117-1
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