When logics of party politics and online activism collide: The populist Finns Party’s identity under negotiation

Abstract

This article portrays the relationship of populist parties, far-right online action and journalistic media by analysing the consequences of a Finnish populist party mobilizing resources created in an online community of anti-immigration activists. How have the traditionally centre-left-populist Finns Party’s attempts of utilizing the far-right-leaning online network Hommaforum contributed to the mediated negotiation over the party’s identity? The study analyses discursive exchanges between Finnish political journalists, the party leader Timo Soini and Hommaforum activists pertaining to the party’s affiliation with racism and extremism during 2008–2015. As a case study, the article discusses the implications of online action diffusing into institutionalized politics and the public sphere. The study suggests that due to the inherent publicness, connective nature and political smearing-applicability of controversial online action, the mobilization of online resources forces traditional organizations to use considerable communicative resources to compensate for the loss of centralized control over communicating party identity.

Polarization in the wake of the European refugee crisis – a longitudinal study of the Finnish political elite’s attitudes towards refugees and the environment

“…VAAs. But what candidates think that voters think will also have an effect on candidates' actual attitudesanalyses of the exchanges between party activists and online communities show that these exchanges have strongly influenced the identity of the Finns Party (Hatakka, 2017).…”

The democratic interface: technology, political organization, and diverging patterns of electoral representation

“…Perhaps even more, this case illustrates the desires of many movement activists to operate somewhat independently of formal party communication processes. In other cases, such as the Finns Party, the existence of parallel communication networks present greater challenges for control of party issue profiles and identity (see Hatakka, 2016).…”

“Freedom of speech requires actions”: Exploring the discourse of politicians convicted of hate‐speech against Muslims

“…In the Finnish context, the increase in anti-immigration political rhetoric, including political hate-speech and Islamophobia, did bring about a gradual normalization of such views in the public debate (Lentin & Titley, 2011;M€ akinen, 2016;Pettersson, 2017). This process was largely aided by the social media, through which politicians reach out directly to groups of "likeminded" people and appeal to presumptive voters with radical, yet rhetorically forceful statements that then become picked up by journalists and further circulated in mainstream media (Hatakka, 2017;Horsti, 2015;Keskinen, 2013;Pettersson & Sakki, 2017;. In the present study, I will explore this topic by looking at how three politicians convicted of hate-speech talk about hate-speech in their Facebookentries and in their statements in mainstream media.…”