Constructing the Discourse on the Eurozone Crisis in the Czech Republic: Presidents Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman Compared

Abstract

The article investigates the discourse of two Czech presidents, Václav Klaus (2003–2013) and Miloš Zeman (2013–incumbent), vis­à­vis the salient issue of the Eurozone crisis. Having adopted the general orientation of the discourse historical approach to discourse analysis, and working with a corpus of data on Klaus’ and Zeman’s public utterances on the Eurozone crisis in the 2010–2018 period, the central research question that the article addresses is: How was the Eurozone crisis discursively constructed in the presidential rhetoric of Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman? Building on the crisis literature, the article answers the question by exploring the presidential discourse within three persuasive narratives of the crisis causes, resolution and consequences.

Keywords

• eurozone crisis
• czech republic
• president
• václav klaus
• miloš zeman
• discourse analysis