scholarly journals Euroscepticism between Populism and Technocracy: The Case of Italian Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco Zappettini ◽  
Marzia Maccaferri
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
European Project ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
European Public ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Government Coalition

This paper analyses the digital communication of Italian parties Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle during their campaigns for the European Parliament elections (January-May 2019). We focus on the Italian case as it is representative of a generalised shift in European public discourse towards an overt delegitimation of the European project and its re-imagination. In the Italian case, Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle, which were in a Government coalition for fourteen months, have been instrumental in Italy’s shift from a strong Europhile country to one of the most Eurosceptic. However, while Lega has definitely aligned itself with a strong right-wing populist agenda, Movimento 5 Stelle has promoted a populist technocratic vision of democracy. Our analysis shows that the articulation of Eurosceptic discourses from both parties by and large reflects the two stances above with Lega’s messages (primarily produced by its leader Matteo Salvini) characterised by a ‘hyperled’ style of communication and stronger nativist elements (for example the appeal to an ethno-centric and ‘sovereign’ idea of Italy) than those of Movimento 5 Stelle, which instead relied on a ‘horizontal’ communicative style. However, our data also shows that the delegitimation of Europe in both parties occur along a similar domestication of European affairs into the national political agenda and the call for a reformed Europe along nationalistic logics which both parties claimed to champion.

scholarly journals The Czech Pirate Party in the 2010 and 2013 Parliamentary Elections and the 2014 European Parliament Elections: Spatial Analysis of Voter Support

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Maškarinec
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Spatial Regression ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Main Method ◽  
Spatial Characteristics ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Peripheral Areas ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
College Educated

Abstract The paper presents a spatial analysis of the Czech Pirate Party (Pirates) voter support in the 2010 and 2013 parliamentary elections and the 2014 European Parliament elections. The main method applied for classifying electoral results was the spatial autocorrelation and spatial regression. The result of the analysis has shown that territorial support for the Pirates copies to a great extent the areas of high support for right-wing parties and simultaneously the areas exemplified by a high development potential. In the case of spatial characteristics, little support for the Pirates was shown in Moravia and higher in the Sudetenland in terms of determinants of support. Additionally to spatial regimes, inter-regional support for the Pirates was also influenced by other non-spatial characteristics, although the strength of their influence was relatively weak. The units which embodied a successful environment for voting for the Pirates were particularly characterized by greater urbanization and a greater number of entrepreneurs, while a lack of jobs and the older age structure, i.e. the signs that in the socio-economic, or socio-ecological sense define peripheral areas, negatively impacted the gains of the Pirates. Ambiguous influence was exercised by college-educated inhabitants, who in the parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2013 decreased the gains of the Pirates, however, in the elections to the European Parliament in 2014 a direction of relationship was modified and turned positive.

Discursive (re)construction of populist sovereignism by right-wing hard Eurosceptic parties in the 2019 European parliament elections

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Brusenbauch Meislova ◽  
Steve Buckledee
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Analytical Tools

Abstract The overarching aim of the article is to investigate the discourse of populist sovereignism as articulated by the leaders and/or leading candidates of four right-wing hard Eurosceptic populist parties in the following countries during the 2019 elections to the European Parliament: the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. The political parties investigated are Freedom and Direct Democracy, League, People’s Party Our Slovakia and Brexit Party. Using the analytical tools of Critical Discourse Analysis and drawing on the concept of populist sovereignism, the study investigates how right-wing Eurosceptic populist sovereignism was discursively (re)constructed by right-wing hard Eurosceptic parties during the 2019 EP elections across the four cases. As such, the inquiry brings fresh insights as it looks at right-wing populist discourse through the sovereignism perspective, thus complementing the literature on populist mobilization that focuses on grasping the linkage between populism and sovereignism.

Hate Speech as Part of Contemporary Public Discourse and Possible Solutions to Support Public Administration: European Parliament Elections in Croatia

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-216
Author(s):  
Vlasta Kučiš ◽  
Darja Kupinić Gušić
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Public Behavior ◽  
The Media ◽  
European Parliament Elections

This article deals with hate speech in public discourse and the media, emphasizing the importance of detecting it in a timely manner in order to remove it. This falls within the scope of the tasks of public administration according to the EU’s normative framework because language is one of the main ways that discrimination is enacted. To this end, the empirical research was carried out in two parts. The first part identifies and analyzes unacceptable public behavior (hate speech), defining types of occurrence as opposed to insults and slander, and identifying the advantages and disadvantages of using language technologies for timely identification. The second part of the research detects occurrences of hate speech in Croatian offline media using the example of the 2019 European Parliament elections, drawing attention to a number of methodological obstacles preventing timely identification of hate speech. The results of this investigation contribute to understanding the linguistic-discursive construction of offline and online hate speech in multicultural communities. It is hoped that regulatory authorities will use the results of this research to facilitate implementation of the EU normative framework.

scholarly journals Visions of Europe: emerging challenges for the European project in the aftermath of the 2014 European Parliament elections

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianna Giovannini ◽  
Laura Polverari ◽  
Antonella Seddone
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
European Public ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Eu Project ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Institutional Architecture ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is facing a profound political crisis of leadership, legitimacy, and purpose. This article provides an analysis of these key dimensions of crisis. It does so by examining the way in which they intersect and their impact on the EU’s institutional architecture, on the politicization of the European public sphere, on the wider dynamics of representation that underpin these processes, and on the political systems and polities of the member states. Drawing on such analysis, we assess the 2014 European Parliament election with reference to the findings of the six articles included in this collection. We conclude with a critical reflection on the competing and often piecemeal ‘visions of Europe’ that emerge from the studies in this volume and the challenges they pose to the EU project.

Die Wahlen zum Europäischen Parlament 2019: drei Ursachen für die Transformation im europäischen Parteiensystem

IG ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Kohls ◽  
Manuel Müller
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Catalytic Effect ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Public Communication ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
European Parliament Elections

The results of the European Parliament elections 2019 are a reflection of a longer-term transformation in the European party system, whereby (left-)liberal and right-wing forces are gaining votes at the expense of traditional centre-left and centre-right catch-all parties. This contribution highlights three societal reasons for this transformation: a new cleavage between inclusion and exclusion which gains importance with respect to the left-right cleavage, changes in the structure of public communication, and the catalytic effect of the European crises of the last years.

scholarly journals Going transnational? Candidates' transnational linkages on Twitter during the 2019 European Parliament elections

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Stier
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Order Logic ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Euro Pean ◽  
European Public ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Second Order Logic ◽  
The Eu

How transnational are European Parliament (EP) campaigns? Building on research on the Euro-pean public sphere and the politicisation of the EU, this study investigates to what extent the 2019 EP campaign was transnational and which factors were associated with ‘going transna-tional’. It conceptualises Twitter linkages of EP candidates as constitutive elements of a transna-tional campaign arena distinguishing interactions with EP candidates from other countries (hori-zontal transnationalisation) and interactions with the supranational European party families and lead candidates (vertical transnationalisation). The analysis of tweets sent by EP candidates from all 28 member states reveals that most linkages remain national. Despite this evidence for the second-order logic, there are still relevant variations contingent on EU positions of parties, the adoption of the Spitzenkandidaten system and socialisation in the EP. The findings have impli-cations for debates on the European public sphere and institutional reform proposals such as transnational party lists that might mitigate the EU’s democratic deficit.

Discursive construction of an anti-immigration Europe by a Sweden Democrat in the European Parliament

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-439
Author(s):  
Kamber Güler
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Power ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Group

Discourses are mostly used by the elites as a means of controlling public discourse and hence, the public mind. In this way, they try to legitimate their ideology, values and norms in the society, which may result in social power abuse, dominance or inequality. The role of a critical discourse analyst is to understand and expose such abuses and inequalities. To this end, this paper is aimed at understanding and exposing the discursive construction of an anti-immigration Europe by the elites in the European Parliament (EP), through the example of Kristina Winberg, a member of the Sweden Democrats political party in Sweden and the political group of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy in the EP. In the theoretical and methodological framework, the premises and strategies of van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach of critical discourse analysis make it possible to achieve the aim of the paper.

Disengaging elections? Political interest, number of elections, and turnout in elections to the European Parliament

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652199845
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Nonnemacher
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
National Study ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
European Election ◽  
Using Data ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Cross National Study

Since direct elections to the European Parliament began in 1979, variations in voting behavior in European Parliament elections from national elections have raised interesting questions about political behavior. I add to a growing literature that explores turnout in European Parliament elections by focusing on the count of national elections between European Parliament elections. Through a cross-national study of elections, I find that turnout decreases in the European Parliament contest following cycles with numerous national contests. Then, using data from the European Election Study, I argue that this is the result of frequent elections decreasing turnout particularly among already low interest voters who stay home. My findings have implications for how formal rules of multi-level elections shape political behavior more generally and voter fatigue in particular.

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