intensive pronouns

Intensive pronouns are pronouns that are used to give emphasis to their antecedents. They take the same form as reflexive pronouns, but their function is different. Reflexive pronouns usually act as objects of reflexive verbs, while intensive pronouns merely give emphasis.

Some examples of intensive pronoun usage:

In the end, the controversy surrounding posthumous publication will endure as long as the publications themselves.

Here, themselves is not an object of a verb. It gives emphasis to the noun publications. Other examples:

President Morales’ press secretary Iván Canelas, who was himself a journalist, clarified . . .

Sarkozy called the current crisis a “crisis of globalization itself,” urging broad coordination of regulation and accounting rules.