Performativnost obećanja u političkom diskursu
Performativity of promises in political discourse

Summary/Abstract: The concept of the performative, as is well known, was first introduced into philosophical-linguistic discussion by the English philosopher J. L. Austin in an endeavour to show that philosophy, and therefore philosophy of language, should move away from worn-out discussions on whether individual statements are true or not. Despite numerous, frequently justified, criticisms that his theory (of speech acts, and later of performatives) has received, we must admit that it opened new perspectives on the very nature of communication that before Austin could not even have been discussed. Performativity, as seen in this paper, relates to the speech act as an act of addressing as interpreted by Austin, Benveniste, and Searle from the speech-act perspective, but here it will be considered in the context of political promises, and the aforementioned pragmalinguistic approach will be expanded with the component of performance, which was analysed by Judith Butler in her take on performativity as a practice that is constantly repeated. As a result, in such a context, promises cannot be understood merely as a form of interaction between interlocutors where the speaker is agreeing to take on an obligation that will be beneficial for the listener in the future, but should be viewed in the wider context of political staging.

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