Populists in Power: Rhetoric and Communication Strategies

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ContextFollowing an established tradition populism is defined here as an ideology which pits a virtuous and homogenous 'people' against a self-serving, corrupt elite and a series of dangerous 'others' (immigrants, criminals, etc). Both 'man on the street' communication styles and the deliberate breaking of the established linguistic registers of politics have been fundamental communication strategies for populists, as insults and verbal violence abound in this propaganda. Populists claim that they are saying 'what the people say and think', in order to be able to galvanise those who have lost faith in traditional politics. Since the mid-1990s, benefiting from an increase in favourable opportunities for them due to a series of internal and external developments (increasing migration for instance, or the 'War on Terror'), populists have gained their best ever results in some European countries and have entered national government in states such as Italy, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands etc. Despite such dramatic developments, and notwithstanding innovative communication styles having been crucial to the success of these parties, the topics covered by this research remain noticeably under-studied. In fact, almost nothing is available in English that takes a comparative approach to the study of populist rhetoric and looks at these parties' use of the mass media. Furthermore, the project proposed is timely as it is only now that we have finally seen populists in power in different countries and at different levels of government (local, regional and national) for some years. As a consequence, it is only now that we can assess whether, once in government, these parties can go on deploying that radical and extreme rhetoric which has helped make them attractive to voters, or are rather 'forced' to moderate their language and become more similar to 'traditional' parties. This research will compare four populist parties in government in two Western European countries: the Lega Nord (LN) and Forza Italia (FI) in Italy; the Schweizerische Volkspartei/Union Démocratique du Centre (SVP/UDC) and the Lega dei Ticinesi (LDT) in Switzerland. These parties have become crucial political players in their respective countries at the national or regional level (or both).Aims and ObjectivesThe project aims at analysing populist propaganda (rhetoric, style, strategies of communications, use of party's own media) from a comparative perspective. Such a comparison is particularly interesting since two of the four parties mentioned speak from within one of the founder members of the EU (Italy) while the other two are based in a profoundly euro-sceptic country (Switzerland) - and the power and role of the EU have indeed become major issues in populist propaganda. Furthermore, two of these parties (FI and the SVP/UDC) are nationalist and two (the LN and the LDT) regionalist. The project will answer the following specific questions:Once populists have entered government (at either the national or subnational levels):1. Do their rhetoric and communication strategies change and, if so, how?2. Does the 'tabloid-like' style of their publications, heavily reliant on strong visual presentations, dramatisation, personalisation etc. change and, if so, how? Moreover, do they still doggedly refuse to adhere to the conventional linguistic registers of political discourse or do they 'moderate' their language? 3. How do they maintain their populist identity in their rhetoric and propaganda and how do they balance their necessary recourse to 'spectacular politics' with the responsibilities of office? Application and benefitThe main potential applications of the study will be in teaching and research. Since this is an interdisciplinary project covering new ground, it will benefit academics, postgraduates and undergraduates in areas such as: Italian, Swiss and European studies, political communication, cultural studies and political science.