رقابت درون‌گفتمانی اصول‌گرایان: مطالعه مقایسه‌ای گفتمان تبلیغی جلیلی و قالیباف در انتخابات ریاست‌جمهوری 1403

This article examines the intra-discourse competition within the Principlist current in Iran's 2024 presidential election. Using Fairclough's critical discourse analysis method, it compares the campaign discourses of Saeed Jalili and Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf. In the specific situation of an election held following the martyrdom of Ebrahim Raisi, these two candidates competed as representatives of two sub-discourses within Principlism. The research data includes television programs, debates, and campaign TV documentaries of these two candidates, with a focus on the "With the People" program as the central text, analyzed at three levels: description, interpretation, and explanation.

The findings indicate that Jalili, by employing a clear discourse based on "transformational Principlism," emphasized components such as anti-arrogance, program-orientation, anti-corruption, and justice-seeking. By directly creating otherness in relation to the discourse of engagement with the West (Rouhani's government) and pragmatism (Qalibaf), he managed to establish greater affinity with the discourse's agents. In contrast, Qalibaf, by adopting a "pragmatic Principlist" discourse, focused on his executive record, efficient management, and rationality. By presenting a dual-focused and mediating discourse, he attempted to attract both Principlist discourse agents and a portion of the moderate stream's votes. However, this approach, due to its lack of clarity, intermediate positions regarding the JCPOA, and inability to effectively address related controversies, failed to engender the necessary trust among the audience.

Ultimately, the article demonstrates that Jalili's relative success was owed to the greater coherence of his discourse with the identity components of Principlism and the explicitness of his ideological demarcations, whereas Qalibaf's ambiguous and action-oriented discourse could not secure the required trust.