Discourse on safety/security in the parliamentary corpus of latvian saeima

Abstract

The discourse on (individual and public) safety and (social) security in the political communication has an impact on community feelings through the ideas of risk and emergency. Indeed, the many aspects of insecurity / un-safety make this to be elaborated in speeches as a rather manifold and complex concept. How is this conceptual nexus used and perceived in the speeches of MP's of Latvian parliament, and what impact it may have had on political discourse in general and construction of identities and power relations between political elites and the people in this discourse? These are the main issues addressed in this research that combines critical discourse analysis and corpus analysis tool created for Corpus of Debates in Latvian parliament - Saeima (1993 - 2017) (http://saeima.korpuss.lv/)). Findings show that the discourse on safety and security is provided by Latvian MP's mainly from protectionist point of view. The main stream of discourse indicate the uses of the meaning of 'security' or “the state of being free from danger or threat”; this is why it is sometimes referred to as taken for granted or the term is often used in Saeima debates in both administrative and populist contexts.