Ukrainian nationalist parties and connective action: an analysis of electoral campaigning and social media sentiments

ABSTRACT

This paper combines human- and computer-mediated content analysis to advance the understanding of how far-right parties are using new media to mobilize their supporters in the transitioning Ukrainian democracy. This study’s theoretical approach employs the framework of connective action logic; results suggest that young and challenger parties are more adoptive of this logic, and provide opportunities for personalized engagement to their supporters. Moreover, use of interactive technologies by the studied parties also goes hand in hand with a smaller proportion of opinionated messages in their Twitter network, in spite of the inherent polarizing nature of these parties. Implications of these findings for research on future political campaigns conclude this paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Nationalist parties
• election campaigns
• connective action
• Twitter
• computer-mediated content analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Larisa Doroshenko is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research interests focus on political communication, civic engagement, polarization, and public opinion. She is especially interested in democratic potential of new media and how the Internet affects political participation and ideological extremity [email: [email protected]].

Tetyana Schneider has her PhD (2016) in education policy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research examines racially and ethnically underrepresented students on college campuses as they develop as global citizens, as well as navigate structural and institutional characteristics of STEM programs [email: [email protected]].

Dmitrii Kofanov is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research broadly focuses on post-Soviet countries, with an emphasis on political economy and history of the Russian Empire before 1917. [email: [email protected]].

Michael A. Xenos is Communication Arts Partners Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research focuses on how individuals, political candidates, journalists, and other political actors adapt to changes in information and communication technologies, and how these adaptations affect broader dynamics of political communication and public deliberation [[email protected]].

Dietram A. Scheufele is the John E. Ross Chair in Science Communication and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and in the Morgridge Institute for Research. His research focuses on public opinion, political communication, and public attitudes toward new technologies [email: [email protected]].

Dominique Brossard is Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an affiliate of the UWMadison Robert & Jean Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, the UW-Madison Center for Global Studies, and the Morgridge Institute for Research. Her research agenda focuses on the intersection between science, media, and policy, with a focus on online environments [email: [email protected]].

Notes

1. http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users-by-country/.

2. Yandex Report: Twitter Usage in Ukraine http://www.digitaleastfactor.com/yandex-report-twitter-usage-ukraine/.

3. See Appendix for the full list of keywords, hashtags, and addressivity markers.

4. See Appendix for example of tweets in each category across five issues.

5. http://liashko.ua/program.

6. http://old.pravyysektor.info/articles/prohrama-politychnoji-partiji-pravyj-sektor-realizatsiji-ukrajinskoji-natsionalnoji-ideji-u-protsesi-derzhavotvorennya/.