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Contributing to an understanding of the true virtues of argumentation, this paper sketches and exemplifies a theoretically reasoned but simple typology of argumentative vices or 'malpractices' that are rampant in political debate in modern democracies. The typology reflects, in negative, a set of argumentative norms, thus making a bid for something that civic instruction might profitably teach students at all levels about deliberative democracy.

Assertives have a word-to-world 'direction-of-fit': their illocutionary point is that the word should fit the world. Directives and commissives have a world-to-word direction-of-fit: their illocutionary point is to make the world fit the word. Arguments in politics and practical argumentation generally are often about directives or commissives, and many of these cannot meaningfully be reconstructed as assertives. Nevertheless, many theorists of argumentation proceed, tacitly or explicitly, as if all arguments must be about assertives, thereby obfuscating matters.

Argumentation theory needs to develop a tightly reasoned normative code of reasonableness in argumentation so that reasonableness is severed from the goal of reaching "consensus," as in Habermas and others, or of "resolving the difference of opinion," as in Pragma-dialectics. On one hand, given degenerative trends in present-day public debate, there is a need for argumentation scholars to enter the public sphere and try to lay down such a code as a common ground of controversy; on the other hand, argumentation theory should recognize that in important respects public controversies cannot be modeled as collaborative enterprises, because dissensus between groups or individuals is legitimately and ineradicably inherent in political and other practical issues in the public sphere. Perhaps the way to develop such a code is not top-down from abstract principles assumed to be axiomatic, but bottom-up from scrutiny of significant authentic examples of public argument. Examples will be drawn from the long-standing controversy over immigration policies, etc., in a European country. Sidelights will be thrown on such theoretical issues as argument evaluation, the "relativism" charge against theories holding that argument strength may be audience-dependent, the characteristic nature of pro and con arguments in practical reasoning, and resources available for legitimate political controversy.

Intro -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Figures -- Introduction -- The Problem(s) of Populism -- Approaches -- Untapped Interdisciplinary Opportunities -- What We Mean by "Rhetoric" -- Populist "Melancholy" in Trumpist Republicanism -- Self-Confident Turncoat: Italy's Salvini -- A Digital Boost to Character Appeals in Brexit Rhetoric -- Provocative by Design: Media-Savvy German Populist Rhetoric -- Syriza Over-riding the Moral High Horse -- Populism as Victorious Victimization -- For the Love of the People -- References -- Populist Melancholy -- Introduction -- Victimage, Whiteness, Conservatism -- The RNP -- Affirming "The People" -- Constructing the Enemy -- Linking System and Enemy -- The Apocalyptic -- The 2020 RNP -- Conclusion -- References -- Voltagabbana Rhetorics: Turncoating as a Populist Strategy in Pandemic Times -- U-Turns and Mixed Messages in a Pandemic Context -- Populist Turncoating, Rhetoric, and Crises -- Voltagabbana-ing as Populist Strategy -- Trasformismo and Contemporary Populist Rhetoric -- Covid-19 Outbreak in Italy: from Epidemic to Pandemic -- No-Mask/Pro-Mask Rollercoasters in the Italian Public Sphere -- Salvini Unmasked: Rhetorical Somersaults and Data-Driven Rhetorics -- On Algorithmic Populism, Beasts, Disavowal, and Demagoguery -- References -- Brexit, YouTube and the Populist Rhetorical Ethos -- Introduction -- Ideology and the Populist Ethos -- Media and Populist Rhetoric -- YouTube Rhetoric -- A Case Study in YouTube Populism: The "Truth" About Brexit. -- Conclusion -- References -- Populism and the Rise of the AfD in Germany -- Introduction: Right-Wing Populism in Germany and the Alternative Für Deutschland -- Populist Rhetoric and the Media -- The Mediasphere of the Alternative für Deutschland -- Populist Parrhesia: Björn Höcke's "Dresden Speech".

This book presents studies from different academic fields of theoretical issues raised by public discourse, focusing on understanding and evaluating how its many manifestations both reflect, shape, and challenge the society it is a part of. The book also presents analyses of examples from around the world of civic communication, ranging from public hearings about same-sex marriage over polemical letters to the editor to public displays of knitting as a protest form.

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Populist Melancholy -- Chapter 3: Voltagabbana Rhetorics. Salvini Unmasked: Turncoating as a Populist Strategy in Pandemic Times -- Chapter 4: Populist Rhetoric and Digital Communication: The Case of Brexit -- Chapter 5: Populism and the Rise of the AfD in Germany -- Chapter 6: The Rhetorical Strategy of Moralisation: A Lesson from Greece -- Chapter 7: Victorious Victimization. Viktor Orbán the Orator: Deep Securitization in Hungary's Propaganda State -- Chapter 8: The Voice and Message of Hugo Chávez: A Rhetorical Analysis -- Chapter 9: Afterword: Afterword: A Definition Sought and Tested -- Index. .

Rhetorical research in the three Scandinavian countries has made contributions to the study of political communication, representing approaches that are not often found in research coming from the social sciences or from more systemic, theory-based orientations. Rhetoric, both as an ancient tradition and as a modern discipline, tends to emphasise close study of actual pieces of communication – verbal, visual, or otherwise. This rarely leads to quantitative, generalisable findings, but instead to observations and conceptualisations of phenomena – which may then be studied from quantitative and empirical angles. Often, rhetorical studies will have a normative tilt, based on notions of democracy, deliberation, and the public sphere – often with an eye for malfunctions and possible remedies. A growing literature of studies in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway tend to share some of these characteristics. At the same time, rhetorical scholars in Scandinavia recognise the value of empirical observation and have made contributions of their own in that regard, for example, in the field of reception studies.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: citizenship as a rhetorical practice -- Section I: Tracing rhetorical citizenship as concept and practice -- 1 Deliberative Democracy: Mapping Out the Deliberative Turn in Democratic Theory -- 2 The Making of Truth in Debate: The Case of (and a Case for) the Early Sophists -- 3 The Search for "Real" Democracy: Rhetorical Citizenship and Public Deliberation in France and the United States, 1870–1940 -- Section II: Public deliberation as rhetorical practice -- Introduction -- Part 1 Considering Norms of Communicative Behavior -- 4 The Respect Fallacy: Limits of Respect in Public Dialogue -- 5 Dialectical Citizenship? Some Thoughts on the Role of Pragmatics in the Analysis of Public Debate -- 6 Provocative Style: The Gaarder Debate Example -- 7 Virtual Deliberations: Talking Politics Online in Hungary -- Part 2 Critiques of "Elite" Discourse -- 8 Dis-playing Democracy: The Rhetoric of Duplicity -- 9 Rhetoric of War, Rhetoric of Gender -- 10 Speaking of Terror: Norms of Rhetorical Citizenship in Danish Public Discourse -- 11 "This May Be the Law, but Should It Be?": Tony Blair's Rhetoric of Exception -- Part 3 Rhetorical Citizenship Across Communicative Settings -- 12 I Agree, but . . . : Finding Alternatives to Controversial Projects Through Public Deliberation -- 13 Deliberation as Behavior in Public -- 14 Homing in on the Arguments: The Rhetorical Construction of Subject Positions in Debates on the Danish Real Estate Market -- 15 Danish Revue: Satire as Rhetorical Citizenship -- Section III: Toward better deliberative practices -- 16 Presidential Primary Debate as a Genre of Journalistic Discourse: How Can We Put Debate into the Debates? -- 17 A Tool for Rhetorical Citizenship: Generalizing the Status System -- 18 Interpretive Debates Revisited -- About the Contributors -- Index