1. 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

2. 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

3. 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!

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

5. 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’

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

7. 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)

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

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series
10/5/2016
MDS

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

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

15. 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

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

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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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?

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

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

23. 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

24. 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)

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

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

27. LDA Output Example

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

29. EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series
10/5/2016

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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