Values in UN speeches: understanding the speechwriters’ perspectives

The presence of values in politically charged speeches delivered by mediating organizations such as the United Nations (UN) contributes towards the attainment of world peace. This study investigated factors that contribute towards the inclusion of values in political speeches written for the delivery of UN representatives to audiences of dev-eloped and developing countries. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on 13 current and former, full-time and part-time speechwriters at the UN headquarters in New York. The study found the UN’s values to be the most important factor, followed by the audiences’ demographics, audiences’ country of origin (i.e., developed or developing countries), and finally, the speechwriters’ values. Additionally, the study found more similarities than differences in terms of the values included in speeches written for audiences of developed and developing countries. However, different styles were usually used to express the values.