A comparative critical discourse analysis of president Vladimir Putin’s inaugural addresses (2000-2024)

Abstract

This article examines the rhetorical evolution of Vladimir Putin’s inaugural addresses from 2000 to 2024 through a comparative matrix and critical discourse analysis. By analyzing five speeches across his presidential terms, the study identifies consistent rhetorical strategies (commonly emphasizing unity, national pride, and tentative optimism) alongside significant ideological shifts. While early speeches foreground democratic legitimacy, openness, and transition, later addresses increasingly sacralize national identity, invoke civilizational mission, and emphasize moral order. The role of the citizen transforms from co-responsible partner to ideological bearer of tradition and sacrifice. This rhetorical development reflects and reinforces broader shifts in Russia’s political landscape, from transitional democracy toward a conservative, post-democratic model of authority. The study contributes to understanding how political discourse legitimizes power, reconfigures the public, and naturalizes ideological transformations. It offers a case study of how language functions as a tool of governance and symbolic control in contemporary authoritarian regimes, with implications for the study of political rhetoric and publicness in post-Soviet contexts.