The monograph studies coherence in political discourse from the perspective of discourse analysis, pragmatics and genre analysis. The investigation into coherence strategies in the genre of opening addresses is performed on the material of speeches delivered by Directors-General of UNESCO. The analysis focuses on interpersonal meanings conveyed by modal expressions, personal pronouns, evaluative lexical units and signals of dialogicity. These interpersonal meanings are interconnected with patterns of thematic progression, continuity of referents, temporal anchoring of the discourse in the moment of speaking, and numerous cohesive signals. The author points out that the choice of coherence strategies is interwoven with persuasion strategies which the politicians use in relation to their communicative intentions and the rhetorical structure of the genre of opening addresses.
