Political communication in and about crises. Potentials of a fragmented field

Abstract

While there is growing interest in political crises in political communication research, crisis has not yet become a meaningful concept. Also, research tends to be reactive, which is suggested by an analysis of when and how the “crisis” label occurred in Swiss media from 2000 to 2018 and how recent scholarship examines political crises. This commentary gives an overview of different research areas within this fragmented “crisis” field and discusses a nuanced concept of crises that is more sensitive to the causes and dynamics of communicatively constructed crises on the macro level. It argues that a more systematic, more comparative and more macro-oriented research on political crises will help reduce the reactive nature of the field and enhance its public relevance.

Esfera pública digital e atores sociais que pautaram as discussões sobre vacinas no Instagram e Facebook no Brasil durante a pandemia de COVID-19 (2020-2021)

“…Além disso, momentos de crise são particularmente propensos à expansão do espectro de atores e comunidades que se envolvem no debate público, uma participação que tende a ser mais ativa conforme a percepção do público quanto à abrangência da crise e seus impactos (cf. Rauchfleisch et al, 2021;Imhof, 2016;Udris, 2019). O ambiente digital, por sua vez, amplia o acesso ao debate público, assim como a difusão de opiniões -estas, muitas vezes, não apoiadas por argumentos ou totalmente desprovidas de racionalidade (Schäfer, 2015).…”

Searching for coherence in a fragmented field: Temporal and keywords network analysis in political science

“…Multiple previous attempts at introspection in the field of political science (e.g., Ricci, 1984;Parenti, 1983;Grant, 2005) have revealed sharp internal divisions within (Garand, 2005). These divisions were attributed to naturally occurring subfields (e.g., Almond, 1988;Smith, 2002); separate intellectual camps (Almond, 1988) or islands or communities (Shepsle, 1990); organizational ties in the form of APSA memberships (Grant, 2005); methodological approaches (Garand & Giles, 2003); and many other scientific disputes that make the field of political science, as many scholars agree, rather fragmented (e.g., Underhill 2000;Udris 2019).…”

No government mouthpieces: Changes in the framing of the “migration crisis” in German news and infotainment media

“…During the so-called "migration crisis," 1 Germany was the main destination country for asylum seekers (Juran & Broer, 2017). In the German public discourse, the emotional and televised encounter of chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) with the Palestinian 1 Migration was neither related to a significant economic breakdown nor to a similar strong social disruption as in the cases of war or natural disaster; hence, the quality of the situation as a crisis is contentious (Udris, 2019).…”