The Life Cycle Model and Press Coverage of Nordic Populist Parties

Herkman, Juha

doi:10.1080/1461670x.2015.1066231

Cited by 51 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Next sections introduce three symbols of othering, particularly present in post-2010 Hungary. Through these he managed to avoid bursting the bubble of populist life-cycle (Herkman 2017): rhetoric on revolution and illiberalism that maintained the frontier of polarisation and the move to claim other parties' dichotomous language and attitudes.…”

Section: Symbolising Us and The Other: Transforming Orbánmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performing the nation: the Janus-faced populist foundations of illiberalism in Hungary

Palonen

2018

Journal of Contemporary European Studies

119

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Hungary once represented a schoolbook case of transition to democracy. Now it offers insights into both contemporary Europe and theories of populism and nationalism. Resisting the traditional linear perspective to transition and a 'demographic' view of democracy, this article explores the relationships among democracy, populism and nationalism. This article operationalises performative and post-foundational theory of populism as a logic of articulation to explain Fidesz and the party leader Viktor Orbán's illiberal measures, dichotomies between them and us, ultimately leading to nationalism and xenophobia. It shows how revolution, 'illiberalism' and migrants have served for populist meaning-making and are related to the political polarisation in Hungary. This article enhances the understanding of democracy by discussing the performative features of nation-building, populism and law-making in contemporary politics and finally the 'Janus-face' of populism. It sees 1989 as a populist moment of constitution of the foundations of a new era but also of the people central to democracy, and recognises attempts to generate similar moments in the 2010s.

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Section: Symbolising Us and The Other: Transforming Orbánmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performing the nation: the Janus-faced populist foundations of illiberalism in Hungary

Palonen

2018

Journal of Contemporary European Studies

119

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“…The most important factor in this relationship is the position of the populist party in a domestic political field. Thus, it is necessary to consider if the party is marginal or not in the political arena, whether it is in opposition or in government, in its insurgent phase or established-all these factors impact heavily on the overall media attention given to it (see Herkman, 2015). Therefore, it is probable that the dominant frames of opposition and populism have changed when PS became established and joined the government after the 2015 elections.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Finns Party: Euroscepticism, Euro Crisis, Populism and the Media

Herkman

2017

MaC

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In many European countries, populist right-wing parties have been most noticeable representatives of Euroscepticism. In Finland, the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) has been a constant promoter of organisational Euroscepticism through its leader, Timo Soini. The party broke through in Finland's 'big bang elections' of 2011, when the most debated issue was the European economic crisis, which was dominated by Eurosceptic Soini. Research concerning the relationship between the media, populism and Euroscepticism usually focus on national or European Parliament elections. This study analyses the media portrayal of the Eurosceptic Finns Party during times other than elections, focusing on the Finland's overall Euro crisis press coverage in 2010-2012. The analysis shows that the populist Finns Party has been a minor player in that coverage, which was dominated by the Euro positive political and economic elites. Differences between newspapers indicate that journalistic routines and political context direct media coverage toward particular framings, even when the media proclaims itself politically independent and neutral.

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“…Secondly, the Nordic countries have remarkably similar media and political systems, representing multi-party democracies that have a strong reliance on consensual decision-making, which, in turn, is scrutinised by a highly professional media (see Hallin andMancini 2004, Strömbäck et al 2008). Thirdly, despite their similarities, the geopolitical, cultural and language contexts of the Nordic countries vary, especially in their political cultures and in the formation of their populist movements (Fryklund 2015, Herkman 2015). In the Nordic countries included in this study, those anti-elite populist movements that have combined nation-centric perspectives and been critical of immigration have enjoyed remarkable success in the twenty-first century (see Table 1).…”

Section: Political Populism In the Nordic Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper applies Laclau's populism theory to analyse articulations of contemporary populism in the Nordic countries. The analysis uses empirical studies on the public construction of populism in Nordic media (Herkman 2015; as well as studies on the self-identification of the Nordic populist movements, especially those on social media sites (e.g. Niemi 2013, Sakki and Pettersson 2016), but the main task here is, in the name of 'radical contextualism' (Grossberg 1992), to explore the context in which populism in contemporary Northern Europe flourishes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Articulations of populism: the Nordic case

Herkman

2016

Cultural Studies

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Populism as a concept is elusive and has been connected to very different political movements. Generally, populism's connotations are rather negative and the term is often used pejoratively in the academic field as well. However, Ernesto Laclau has approached populism by arguing that populist reason is a manifestation of political logic in which group identification-formed through various signifiers such as 'the people', which are articulated as part of an 'equivalence chain'-eventually establishes political agency as a totality. This paper uses Laclau's articulation theory to analyse the public construction of contemporary populism in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The analysis demonstrates that mainstream media frame populism rather negatively, although examples of the term's positive identification with 'the people' are available, especially in the tabloid media. Thus, the positive identification behind the forming of populist movements clashes with the media discourse that prioritises established journalistic views, practices and sources, making populism a 'floating signifier', i.e. a concept that has several meanings which are contested in various public discourses. A general pattern in the construction of populism in Northern European multi-party democracies can be discerned, thus identifying the central role of nationalist and nativist identifications in contingent populist articulations. However, the differences between the Nordic countries emphasise a context-driven approach.

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The Life Cycle Model and Press Coverage of Nordic Populist Parties

Cited by 51 publications

References 37 publications

Performing the nation: the Janus-faced populist foundations of illiberalism in Hungary

Performing the nation: the Janus-faced populist foundations of illiberalism in Hungary

The Finns Party: Euroscepticism, Euro Crisis, Populism and the Media

Articulations of populism: the Nordic case

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