Government public relations and national identity building: the open presidencies of Armando Guebuza in Mozambique

Abstract

Mozambique is a recent and deeply divided society, at socio-economic, cultural, political and linguistic levels. Armando Guebuza, president of Mozambique from 2005 to 2014, placed communication with citizens at the centre of his government strategy. With the “Open and Inclusive Presidency” (PAI), a governmental public relations strategy, he established a cycle of close proximity to the people, especially in rural areas. In this article, a critical analysis of Guebuza’s discourses in the context of the PAI is developed, as a text, discursive and sociocultural practice in five dimensions: (i) lexicon; (ii) themes; (iii) historical context; (iv) relationship with the public; and (v) national identity. The results indicate that the PAI and its discursive practices were designed with the purpose of influencing meanings contributing to the consolidation of the national identity.