How to Create a Leader : A critical discourse analysis on how international actors describes Robert Mugabe

Abstract: To learn how international actors use their discourse as a power tool in an international debate can it help us to understand how they use it to gain leverage and influence the international debate. The international debate this thesis will focus on is the debate around Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe, a heavily debated leader. The three chosen actors who view Robert Mugabe very differently and have interest in Zimbabwe are; China, United Kingdom and South Africa. The analytical framework that is used to understand how the actors influence the debate is based on Steven Lukes theory on the Three-dimensional view of Power, to see how issues are included or excluded from the public debate. Steven Lukes concept of Power as Domination will also be used to analyze the discourse the actors are conducting. The thesis methodological framework will be a Critical Discourse Analysis, where the focus is on the relation between the social contexts and the linguistic. When talking about Robert Mugabe the actors have used different discourses describing him very differently. The discourse that the chosen actors have been using have had its foundation in a specific moments or incidents to which he is described very differently. This thesis will also show how the chosen actors try to dominate the international debate regarding Robert Mugabe by describing him each in their specific way.