Populism and the Far-Right in the Digital Age
Following the seismic political events of 2016, with the election of President Trump and the Brexit referendum, research into populist and far-right politics surged. In this period, Information, Communication and Society (ICS) emerged as a prominent platform for the exploration of the media practices of such political actors and their audiences. This collection of articles, all of which were published since 2017, offers a comprehensive view of the study of populism and the far-right in the digital age. A first set of articles concern the ‘supply-side’, focusing on the online communications of populist and far-right actors. Some of these articles (see: Ernst et al. 2017; Jacobs and Spierings 2019; Schwartz et al. 2023) explore how they have harnessed social media, taking a comparative perspective to reveal the features of a distinctly ‘populist’ form of usage. In addition, studies with a more dynamic approach have examined how the populist mode of social media engagement evolves over time, influenced by electoral campaigns and government participation (see: Ceron et al. 2021; Klein and Pirro 2021; Schmuck and Hameleers 2020). Moving beyond party politics, other articles have explored the media practices of populist and far-right movements (Castelli Gattinara and Bouron 2020; Haller and Holt 2019), including their use of alternative outlets and social media platforms (Müller and Schulz 2021; Rone 2022), and the interconnections between movements and parties in the online sphere (Stier et al. 2017; Klinger et al. 2023). A second set of articles shifts attention to the ‘demand-side‘ of politics, focusing instead on voters, and considering how they receive and are influenced by populist and far-right practices and messages (Hameleers and Schmuck 2017; Bracciale et al. 2021). Several studies published in ICS have analysed the impact of social media usage by individuals on their support for these political forces (Groshek, and Koc-Michalska 2017; Heiss and Matthes 2017; Mosca and Quaranta 2021; Schumann et al. 2021; Schumann et al. 2022). By combining the insights from both supply-side and demand-side perspectives, this collection enables a comprehensive perspective on the role of digital communications in the dramatic political transformations of the past decade. Lastly, the contribution of Niko Hatakka (2020) highlights societal responses to populist and far-right politics within the online realm, in the context of Finland. Amidst the huge attention dedicated to populism and the far-right, there remains scope for further exploration of strategies that have been introduced to counteract the influence of such forces in the digital age.
Edited by
Fred Paxton(School of Social & Political Sciences, University of Glasgow)