Political Persuasion in International Affairs: A Computational Sociolinguistic Inquiry Utilizing Historical Analysis of US Congressional Rhetoric from 1873 to 2017

Abstract

Negative sentiment, when used in the context of persuasion, can play a significant role in the effectiveness of spoken rhetoric. In this paper, sentiment analysis of publicly delivered Congressional speeches on relevant foreign policy legislation and events will be the center of exploration, evaluated through historical trends of that corresponding time period. This element of evaluation will be key in the process of determining whether or not negative sentiments were successful and how overall sentiment in a speech evolved over the course of one hundred and fifty years through computational sociolinguistic analysis. The paper explores the increase in negative sentiment in accordance with drastic global events, illustrating how negative sentiment became a necessity for significant foreign policy action.