About the Network for Oratory and Politics

The Network for Oratory and Politics studies political speeches across historical periods and regions. It links researchers with politicians, speechwriters, and the public to share knowledge and ideas.

The network focuses on several key activities:

• Bringing together academics to analyse oratory and politics from different historical periods and regions.

• Involving practitioners in discussions about how oratory relates to politics and its cultural impact.

• Sharing these discussions through various media with both scholars and the public.

• Hosting public lectures to encourage lively discussions about political oratory.

• Training postgraduate students in the study of oratory and politics.

• Creating links for future projects and collaborations in this field.

• Serving as a hub for events related to the network's interests.

The network’s activities focuses on gathering academics to analyse and discuss oratory and politics across historical periods and regions; engaging practitioners of political oratory in discussions of the relationship between oratory and politics, and cultural receptions of oratory; communicating these discussions through a range of media to the scholarly community and to the public; engaging the public through public lectures in a fruitful discussion of political oratory; training postgraduate students in the study of oratory and politics; fostering links for future projects and collaborations in the field; acting as a communication hub for externally-organised events whose content falls within the interests of this network.

The Network for Oratory and Politics is the first of its kind in the UK. It has a wide historical and geographical focus. It shares knowledge with non-academic groups and uses modern communication technologies. This helps connect with both academic and non-academic communities. 

• 7 and 26 September 2022: interviewed for The Bunker Daily Podcast on the state of public speech today (published 30 September 2022)
• 30 March 2022: interviewed for NOS Nieuwsuur (the Netherlands) on President Zelensky’s rhetoric
• 23 March 2022: interviewed for TVNet Group (Latvia) on President Zelensky’s rhetoric
• 21 March 2022: interviewed for New York Times on President Zelensky’s rhetoric
• 8 October 2018: BBC World Service series ‘The Why Factor’, episode on ‘Rhetoric’
• June 2019, Betterknown podcast
• May 2019, Hay Festival

• British Political Speech - an online archive of British political speech and a place for the discussion, analysis, and critical appreciation of political rhetoric.
• Centre for Oratory and Rhetoric - based at Royal Holloway and established in 2010 in order to foster research in the art of persuasion from the Graeco-Roman antiquity until the twenty-first century.
• Ancient and Modern Rhetoric - a blog by Dr Jon Hesk (School of Classics, St Andrews) exploring the similarities and differences between ancient and modern uses and abuses of rhetorical communication.
• Silva Rhetoricae (The Forest of Rhetoric) - a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric, provided by Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University.
• Iris Online - the online resource of The Iris Project. Updated every week with new features, articles by leading academics, interviews, travelogues and 'Lite' features, it is aimed at everyone who has an interest in Classics and the ancient world. In the run up to the 2015 General Election they have published a series of articles on the theme of 'Politics and Democracy'.

Please contact us at networkfororatoryandpolitics@gmail.com if you would like to add a resource to this list.

The Rhetoric Society of Europe (RSE) is an organization for European researchers and teachers working on the art of rhetoric.

The purpose of RSE is to promote and advance the research, study and teaching of rhetoric in Europe, and to facilitate professional cooperation between its members. The society provides a forum where researchers and others involved in rhetorical research and teaching can meet and exchange ideas, information and documentation about their work.

Even though it is an important aim of the RSE to stimulate European research and teaching in rhetoric, we welcome members from all parts of the world. The RSE not only wishes to improve and enhance European research, but also to facilitate international cooperation in the research, study and teaching of rhetoric.

• Visit RSE website

If you’re a UK-based speechwriter, membership of the UK Speechwriters’ Guild will give you access to a community of professionals seeking to improve their skills. We advertise jobs, publish newsletters, run training workshops and organise an annual conference.

• Visit UK Speechwriters’ Guild website

If you write speeches in more than one language, or you have to deal with the problems of simultaneous interpretation or communicating with multi-lingual audiences, membership of The European Speechwriter Network will put you in touch with people working with the same problems. We share knowledge and exchange ideas between speechwriters working in international organisations. We organise an annual conference in a European city.

• Visit ESN website