Weaponizing Wedge Issues : Strategies of Populism and Illiberalism in European Election Campaigning on Facebook

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14230%2F25%3A00141842" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14230/25:00141842 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/10718" target="_blank" >https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/10718</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.10718" target="_blank" >10.17645/mac.10718</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Weaponizing Wedge Issues : Strategies of Populism and Illiberalism in European Election Campaigning on Facebook

Original language description

The 2024 European Parliament elections took place against a backdrop of overlapping crises, including climate change, migration, and the Russian war against Ukraine, all of which have the potential to drive political polarization. These wedge issues can be strategically used in campaign communication to activate strong emotional and moral responses, exploit societal divisions, and fracture opposing coalitions. When combined with populist communication and illiberal rhetoric, they align closely with the attention dynamics of social media but also carry potential dangers for democratic discourse. However, research on how these elements are combined in parties’ campaign communication remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive manual quantitative content analysis of 8,748 Facebook posts from parties in 13 EU member states, examining how wedge issues were communicated and combined with populism and illiberalism during the 2024 European Parliament elections. Our analyses reveal that populist parties relied more heavily on wedge issues and combined them with populist communication and illiberal rhetoric more often than non-populist parties. Certain wedge issues appeared more conducive to these elements than others. The combination of wedge issues with populist communication and illiberal rhetoric as exclusionary rhetorical strategies thus emerges as a defining feature of populist digital campaigning. These elements can be seen as mutually reinforcing tools that structure harmful political interpretation patterns, particularly in times of polycrises. This underscores how digital platforms can be used to redefine the contours of democratic debate, making it even more essential to understand the communicative mechanisms through which parties influence public discourse in order to defend democracy.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50802 - Media and socio-cultural communication

Project

<a href="/en/project/LX22NPO5101" target="_blank" >LX22NPO5101: The National Institute for Research on the Socioeconomic Impact of Diseases and Systemic Risks</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Media and Communication

ISSN

2183-2439

e-ISSN

2183-2439

Volume of the periodical

13

Issue of the periodical within the volume

August

Country of publishing house

PT - PORTUGAL

Number of pages

24

Pages from-to

1-24

UT code for WoS article

001589961300012

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105018850605