The Rise of Populism and Euroscepticism in Contemporary Europe EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Contesting Future Integration: The Rise of Populism and Euroscepticism in Contemporary Europe Michael Bossetta PhD Fellow Centre for European Politics Department of Political Science

Aims of this lecture Not to define what populism or Euroscepticism is… EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Aims of this lecture Not to define what populism or Euroscepticism is… Rather, try to explain the ’rise’ of these phenomena Discuss their implications for the future of European integration Present evidence from my own research

What do we mean by ’populism’? EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 What do we mean by ’populism’? Giving power back to the people Anti-elite ’Common People’ ’Us’ versus ’Them’ Crisis Different theories, different interpretations… Listen to Obama!

Populism and Euroscepticism go Hand-in-Hand EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Populism and Euroscepticism go Hand-in-Hand ’Anti-Elite’

What explains this transnational phenomeona? EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 What explains this transnational phenomeona? Globalization Increasing stress on traditional nation-state model Mediatization Increasing importance of media for politics Media coverage is increasingly ’spectacularized’

Mediatization and the ’Negativity Bias’ EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Mediatization and the ’Negativity Bias’ Controversy Politicians Coverage Media

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Study 1: ’Fighting Fire with Fire’: Mainstream Adoption of the Populist Political Style in the 2014 Europe Debates between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage Michael Bossetta (University of Copenhagen)

LBC BBC The 2014 Europe Debates EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 The 2014 Europe Debates LBC BBC

Populism and Rhetoric: Four ways to make an argument EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Populism and Rhetoric: Four ways to make an argument Logos: Appeals to Facts or Examples Pathos: Appeals to the audience’s emotions Ethos: Appeals based on expertise or authority Denigration: Slandering one’s opponent

Qualitative Coding Results EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Qualitative Coding Results

Examples from the debates: Ukranian Maidan Revolution EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Examples from the debates: Ukranian Maidan Revolution LBC Debate BBC Debate

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 MDS

Qualitative Coding Results EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Qualitative Coding Results

Results (Word Frequency Analysis) EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Results (Word Frequency Analysis)

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Conclusions Non-populist politicians in government may adopt a populist style to counter populist challengers This likely has a negative impact on the quality of democracy, as voters’ access to substantive political information decreases Populists may benefit from promoting a stable message, coming across as ‘authentic’ and legitimizing their claims to representation

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Study 2: The ‘Eurosceptic Europeanization of Public Spheres’: Comparing Swedish and Danish Reactions to the 2014 European Parliament elections across Old and New Media Anamaria Dutceac Segesten (Lund University) Michael Bossetta (University of Copenhagen)

The Public Sphere Politicians Media Citizens EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 The Public Sphere Politicians Media Citizens

Europeanization of Public Spheres EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Europeanization of Public Spheres Any process whereby a feature of the domestic (be it an identity, policy, or a discourse) takes on a European dimension European public spheres emerge through the “Europeanization of these various public spheres that then allows for cross-border communication in Europe” (Risse 2014: 3)

Eurosceptic Europeanization of Public Spheres EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Eurosceptic Europeanization of Public Spheres Source: The Economist ”The Eurosceptic Union” May 31st, 2014

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Research Question(s) Do Eurosceptic parties contribute to the Europeanization of public spheres? If so, how does the Eurosceptic Europeanization of public spheres differ across old and new media?

Europeanization of the Eurosceptic Narrative EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Europeanization of the Eurosceptic Narrative Denmark Sweden

Tone of the Eurosceptic Narrative EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Tone of the Eurosceptic Narrative Denmark Sweden

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Conclusions: Eurosceptic Europeanization occurs and is driven by print media. Moreso in Sweden than Denmark Less Europeanization on social media than print, but more similar context by platform Sentiment towards the Eurosceptics differs from Danes (positive) and Swedes (negative) Except on Twitter

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Study 3: The ‘Rise of the Eurosceptics’ in 2014: A Europeanized Media Discourse about Euroscepticism Anamaria Dutceac Segesten (Lund University) Michael Bossetta (University of Copenhagen)

Number of Articles Per Country (N=1545) EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2017 Number of Articles Per Country (N=1545)

Number of Articles Per Newspaper (N=1545) EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Number of Articles Per Newspaper (N=1545)

LDA Output Example

Results: Scope of LDA topics EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Results: Scope of LDA topics

EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016

Conclusion The discourse about Euroscepticism is Europeanized EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Conclusion The discourse about Euroscepticism is Europeanized The media drive this process The Europeanization of Eurosceptic discourse is explained by: Type of Newspaper Degree of Eurosceptic Party Success Net Contributor or Receiver of EU Funds

What does all of this mean for the EU’s Future? EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 What does all of this mean for the EU’s Future? Bad news for the EU and its citizens: Study 1: Mainstream politicians may adopt a populist style if threatened Playing to the media’s negativity bias Lowering citizens’ access to facts

What does all of this mean for the EU’s Future? EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 What does all of this mean for the EU’s Future? The Good News? Studies 2 and 3: Media reporting about Eurosceptics downloads Europe into national public spheres (Europeanization) Euroscepticism is discussed in similar contexts across various countries However, national variations in evaluations (tone) of Euroscepticism still matter! Social media, particularly Twitter, are where like-minded citizens can easily discuss Europe across borders

European Parliament and Snapchat Dual Screening Political Debates EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series 10/5/2016 Episodes on: European Parliament and Snapchat Dual Screening Political Debates Öresundsrevolutionen and Facebook E-voting in Estonia Hillary for Prison and Instagram @SMandPPodcast SocialMediaAndPoliticsPodcast