Dialects of Discord. Changing vocabularies in the Dutch Cruise Missile discussion

Abstract

This paper investigates the changing vocabulary used in Dutch parliamentary debates during the cruise missile controversy and its immediate aftermath (1970-1990). Using word embedding models (WEMs), we show that while declared policy preferences were rigid throughout the period, the preferred terminology of politicians changed markedly under influence of public protests and the thawing of Soviet-US relations during the 1980s. We show that the application of a WEM can be used to reveal, in a systematic manner, changes in tone in political vocabulary.