“Em nome da paz, democracia e liberdade para todos” : a influência do discurso nos processos de transição política no Brasil e na África do Sul

Abstract

Transitions to democracy have been studied by political scientists for more than four decades. Such studies had their peak in the 1980s and 1990s and focused on variables such as the economic situation, the international scenario and the quality of leadership. This dissertation starts from the proposal to consider a new variable in the analysis of the transitions to democracy that occurred in Brazil and in South Africa: the speeches given by the presidents and main members of the opposition. In this sense, the speeches are not only seen as speech acts, but as political actions for the construction of a reality. In the Brazilian case, speeches given by President Figueiredo between 1979 and 1984 are analyzed, as well as by parliamentarians Ulysses Guimarães and Tancredo Neves. In the South African case, speeches given by President De Klerk between 1989 and 1994, as well as by activist Nelson Mandela, are analyzed. As analysis tools, the concepts proposed by a socio-cognitive discourse analysis approach are used, as well as the notions of ideologies as instruments of distortion and legitimation. Finally, a comparison is made in order to verify features that approximate and distance the two cases with regard to the use of discourse as a guarantee of the interests of the groups involved.