The Construction of Legitimation in Romanian Public Authorities’ Discourses During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Construction of Legitimation in Romanian Public Authorities’ Discourses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Summary/Abstract: The global spread of COVID-19 in 2020 has created a wide range of responses from governments, like lockdowns, event prohibitions, social distancing rules, etc. Authorities tried to legitimize these restrictions (including limitations of individual rights) through different strategies in order to obtain people compliance. This paper aims to analyze the discourses of two most trusted Romanian public figures, according to IRES (April 2020), Klaus Iohannis, Romanian President, and Raed Arafat, Romanian State Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, both of whom played key roles in the communication around the COVID-19 health emergency state in our country in March-April 2020. Our goal is to identify how they legitimize their actions by exploring the power relationships between these two Romanian authorities, citizens and other social actors as reflected in their discourses. Our analysis combines van Leuween’s (2007) legitimation strategies with Brown’s (2020) risk features to understand how Romanian authorities managed to respond to COVID-19crisis. Research showed the two public figures legitimize their actions by using personal authority and that warnings are the most addressed constructions in their discourses. Differences also showed that Arafat was more focused on battling fake news and its effects, while Iohannis was often using good hero’s narratives to explain the decisions implemented to combat the pandemic.

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