Until the nineteen seventies metaphors were ornamental style elements with no other functions than embellishment. Scholars became aware since then of the political power of metaphor and its value as a scientific discovery instrument in the political domain in the political domain. First, the persuasive and propaganda aspect of metaphor was widely given attention. Second, the value of metaphor analysis as a research method for the humanities was revealed. This paper presents an overview of qualitative and quantitative methods to study political metaphor. What does metaphor consist of? How to study it for revealing its persuasive and political meaning? Focus is on social-scientific methods and in particular the quantitative approach by De Landtsheer (2011) entitled the Metaphor Power Index (MPI) method that allows to quantify emotive power in political discourse. Qualitative methods that are indirectly relevant for leadership studies are inspired by cognitive linguistics and by critical discourse analysis (CDA).
