Populists in Power: Rhetoric and Communication Strategies

根据既定的传统，民粹主义在这里被定义为一种意识形态，它使一个善良、同质的“人民”与一个自私、腐败的精英和一系列危险的“他人”（移民、罪犯等）对立。“街头男人”的沟通方式和故意打破既定的政治语言记录一直是民粹主义者的基本沟通策略，因为这种宣传中充斥着侮辱和言语暴力。民粹主义者声称，他们说的是“人民所说和所想的”，以便能够激励那些对传统政治失去信心的人。自1990年代中期以来，由于一系列内部和外部事态发展，（例如，增加移民，或“反恐战争”），民粹主义者在一些欧洲国家取得了有史以来最好的成绩，并进入了意大利、丹麦、奥地利、荷兰等国的国家政府。尽管创新的沟通方式对这些政党的成功至关重要，但这项研究所涵盖的主题仍然明显研究不足。事实上，英语中几乎没有一种比较方法来研究民粹主义修辞，并研究这些政党对大众媒体的使用。此外，提出的项目是及时的，因为直到现在，我们才终于看到民粹主义者在不同国家和不同级别的政府（地方，地区和国家）掌权多年。因此，只有到了现在，我们才能评估，一旦执政，这些政党是否可以继续使用激进和极端的言论，帮助他们吸引选民，或者更确切地说，“被迫”缓和他们的语言，变得更类似于“传统”政党。本研究将比较两个西欧国家政府中的四个民粹主义政党：意大利的Lega诺德（LN）和Forza Italia（FI）;瑞士的Schweizerische Musspartei/中间民主联盟（SVP/UDC）和Lega dei Ticinesi（LDT）。这些政党已成为各自国家在国家或区域一级（或两者）的重要政治参与者。宗旨和目标该项目旨在从比较的角度分析民粹主义宣传（修辞、风格、传播战略、使用政党自己的媒体）。这样的比较特别有趣，因为上述四个政党中有两个来自欧盟的创始成员国之一（意大利），而另外两个则来自一个深刻的欧元怀疑论国家（瑞士）--欧盟的权力和作用确实成为民粹主义宣传的主要问题。此外，其中两个政党（FI和SVP/UDC）是民族主义者，两个政党（LN和LDT）是地方主义者。该项目将回答以下具体问题：一旦民粹主义者进入政府（在国家或国家以下一级）：1。他们的修辞和沟通策略是否发生了变化，如果发生了变化，是如何变化的？2.他们出版物的“小报式”风格，严重依赖于强烈的视觉表现、戏剧化、个性化等，是否会改变，如果是，如何改变？此外，他们是否仍然顽固地拒绝遵守政治话语的传统语言记录，或者他们是否“温和”他们的语言？3.他们如何在他们的言论和宣传中保持他们的民粹主义身份，他们如何平衡他们对“壮观政治”的必要求助与办公室的责任？应用和效益本研究的主要潜在应用将是在教学和研究。由于这是一个跨学科的项目，涵盖了新的领域，它将有利于学者，研究生和本科生等领域：意大利，瑞士和欧洲研究，政治传播，文化研究和政治学。

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.