scholarly journals Shattering Populists’ Rhetoric with Satire at Elections Times: The Effect of Humorously Holding Populists Accountable for Their Lack of Solutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 574-597
Author(s):  
Mark Boukes ◽  
Michael Hameleers

The popularity of populist parties has increased worldwide, and disproportionate media attention for these parties arguably fueled their success. We empirically test our theoretical argument that political satire—with its humor, focus on internal contradictions, and lack of journalistic principles regarding objectivity and facticity—may be an effective antidote to populism’s success. Using a representative panel survey that functions as a natural experiment in the context of the Netherlands, we show that consumption of the satire show Zondag met Lubach (ZML) indeed lowered support for a right-wing populist party (PVV), its leader (Wilders), and the perceived capability of this party. Specifically, this study shows how satirically revealing the “weak spot” of populism (i.e., lacking concrete treatment recommendations) lowers populist support particularly among citizens already inclined to vote for populist parties. These findings have important democratic implications as they reveal that satire can have a real-life impact on the political decisions that voters make.

Author(s):  
Henrik Serup Christensen

The impact of the Internet on political participation has been a debated issue in recent decades. Internet activities have been criticized for being slacktivism, where the real life impact of the activities is limited; the main effect is to enhance the feel-good factor for the participants. This article examines whether this accusation is valid. It does so by examining two aspects of Internet campaigns: Whether they are effective in affecting real life political decisions, and whether Internet activism substitutes traditional forms of off-line participation. Although it is not possible to determine a consistent impact of Internet campaigns on real-life decisions, there is no evidence of the substitution thesis. If anything, the Internet has a positive impact on off-line mobilization. Accordingly, there is little evidence to support the accusation of Internet campaigns being slacktivism. It is at worst harmless fun and can at best help invigorate citizens.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
Sarah Flèche

Many countries are reallocating tasks and powers to more central levels of government. To identify centralization’s welfare effects, I use a difference-in-differences design that relies on time and cross-cantonal variation in the implementation of centralization reforms in Switzerland. I find that centralization provokes significant decreases in residents’ life satisfaction. I identify one mechanism driving the effect, namely the procedural disutility that individuals experience from having less influence over the formulation of political decisions. This effect is largest among individuals with higher expected benefits from being involved in the political decision process, with detrimental effects on local political participation.


Author(s):  
Mariëlle Stel ◽  
Fieke Harinck

People’s voting behavior has a great impact on the political road that is taken in our countries. The current research shows that mimicry, the imitation of nonverbal behavior, unconsciously affects our political voting behavior. Earlier research has shown that mimicry enhances prosocial thoughts and behaviors. As prosocial people are expected to be more attracted to left-wing parties, it was predicted that mimicry affects people’s voting behavior. As expected, mimickees voted more often for left-wing than for right-wing parties than nonmimickees. This effect was due to a shift in mimickees’ view of themselves as being more related to others. Thus, mimicry does more than making people more prosocial, it even affects their political decisions.


2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover


2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Jamal

This essay analyzes the political motivations behind the Jewish Nation-State Bill introduced in the Knesset in November 2014, shedding light on the ascendancy of the Israeli political establishment's radical right wing. It argues that there were both internal and external factors at work and that it is only by examining these thoroughly that the magnitude of the racist agenda currently being promoted can be grasped. The essay also discusses the proposed legislation's long history and the implications of this effort to constitutionalize what amounts to majoritarian despotism in present-day Israel.


2011 ◽  
Vol 162 (7) ◽  
pp. 209-215
Author(s):  
Jean-François Métraux

In the years since 2000, the authorities in charge of forests in canton Vaud have made some substantial changes as a reaction to the political decisions arising from the Swiss Forest Programme and the projected revision of the Federal forestry Law, as well as to the deterioration of the economic situation in forestry enterprises. This article gives a survey of the directions taken. Thus the canton recognises the primordial role of wood production as a driving force behind the creation of a multifunctional forest. The Service for Forests, Wildlife and Nature has invested a great deal in planning, and has redefined the management plan to be an instrument intended for forest owners and forest managers. The canton has innovated by introducing forestry groups and a scheme of equalisation of forestry costs between communes. Hence the conception of forestry management in canton Vaud is resolutely that of a multifunctional natural heritage.


Author(s):  
Balázs Trencsényi ◽  
Michal Kopeček ◽  
Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič ◽  
Maria Falina ◽  
Mónika Baár ◽  
...  

The success of the Bolshevik Revolution confirmed that economic backwardness was not necessarily an obstacle for socialism, as it triggered the radicalization of leftist movements in the region. Yet this also led to polarization of the left on questions of Soviet-Russian developments and possible cooperation with non-socialist parties, as well as agrarian and national questions. While in many countries social democracy entered the political mainstream in the 1920s, its position was undermined by the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. In turn, the Great Depression made the communist position more plausible, but the Stalinization of communist parties and the imposition of socialist realism alienated most intellectual supporters. Eventually, some radical leftists turned against the communist movement attacking its dogmatism and the Stalinist show trials. At the same time, the rise of Nazism forced leftist groups to seek a common ground, first in the form of “Popular Front” ideology, and, during the war, in the form of armed partisan movements.


Allergy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibon Eguiluz‐Gracia ◽  
Maarten Berge ◽  
Cristina Boccabella ◽  
Matteo Bonini ◽  
Cristiano Caruso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 296-311
Author(s):  
Paul Stephan

Abstract Four new publications provide an overview of the relationship between Nietzsche’s philosophical thought and his political commitments. Together they highlight the true complexity of Nietzsche’s politics, since some of his ideas can be adapted to anarchist and right-wing positions as much as, for instance, to Frankfurt School critical theory. At the same time, these contributions underscore the limitations of a strictly positivist, or philological approach, since any assessment of Nietzsche’s politics cannot be detached from the political faultlines of the present.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Darya Urupina ◽  
Manolis N. Romanias ◽  
Frederic Thevenet

The experimental investigation of heterogeneous atmospheric processes involving mineral aerosols is extensively performed in the literature using proxy materials. In this work we questioned the validity of using proxies such as Fe2O3, FeOOH, Al2O3, MgO, CaO, TiO2, MnO2, SiO2, and CaCO3 to represent the behavior of complex mixtures of minerals, such as natural desert and volcanic dusts. Five volcanic dusts and three desert dusts were compared to a number of metal oxides, commonly used in the literature to mimic the behavior of desert dusts in the ability to form sulfites and sulfates on the surface exposed to SO2 gas. First, all samples were aged at room temperature, atmospheric pressure, under controlled experimental conditions of 175 ppm SO2 for 1 h under 30% of relative humidity. Second, they were extracted with 1% formalin and analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to quantify and compare the amount of sulfites and sulfates formed on their surfaces. It was evidenced that under the experimental conditions of this study neither one selected pure oxide nor a mixture of oxides can adequately typify the behavior of complex mixtures of natural minerals. Therefore, to evaluate the real-life impact of natural dust on atmospheric processes it is of vital importance to work directly with the natural samples, both to observe the real effects of desert and volcanic dusts and to evaluate the relevancy of proposed proxies.


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