Strategic Diplomacy and International Legitimacy: A Critical Discourse Analysis of PM Pakistan’s Speech at Gaza Peace Summit (Sharm el-Sheikh Summit) 2025

Abstract

The study aims to explore international legitimacy by analyzing the address of PM Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif at the Gaza Peace Summit 2025. A qualitative research methodology is used in the study. The research paper employs the three-dimensional framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) presented by Norman Fairclough (1993) in order to investigate the political discourse represented at the international level. The sample of the study contains the address that PM Shahbaz Sharif delivered at the international level during the significant event of Sharm el-Sheikh (2025). The data is analysed at three levels, including textual, discursive, and social practices. Textual level analysis reveals the humanitarian issues and diplomatic duties portrayed by the use of vocabulary and word choices, which evaluates the expressions. discursive practice level of analysis reveals the diplomatic role and production of political meaning. Moreover, the study at the social practice level reveals the geopolitical hierarchies and power dynamics that influenced the global reactions to Gaza. Overall, it explores humanitarian speech through political discourse. The study contributes by highlighting the role of Pakistan as a humanitarian and the US as a controller of power over the whole nation. The future dimensions of the research study suggest multimodality and a cross-leader comparison based on the address of this specific occasion.