A consensual topic: The French and Spanish parliaments against domestic violence

This article presents a comparative analysis of two debates in the French Assemblée nationale and the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados which were held in February 2007 and December 2004, respectively. The common topic was the final debate of a bill for tackling the issue of domestic violence. A comparative discourse analysis is central from a descriptive and communicational theoretical point of view. Methodological tools of enunciational, pragmatic and argumentative approaches are applied in this study. The description of the common aspects of two debates belonging to the same parliamentary genre is meant to contribute to a more nuanced description of the specific discursive strategies used in each of the two countries. While examining a consensual position on the topic, the analysis focuses on varying verbal behaviour patterns and discrepancies, related to differences in socio-cultural contexts and political cultures.