In conjunction with the rise of populism all over the globe, social media has been acknowledged as an important arena for populist actors to disseminate their political ideas. This thesis aims to examine the relationship between social media and right-wing populism by exploring how an online platform mediates right-wing populist discourses. In contrast to the existing literature on this relationship, the social media platform TikTok is studied in this thesis. This study examines how online activists that are campaigning for the Sweden Democrats utilize the possibilities provided by TikTok’s material functions in relation to the social context in which they are used. Participant observation was conducted to study these dynamics, understood as platform affordances. The results show that the activists disseminate right-wing populist ideas on TikTok by utilizing functions for self-publication (of video). In terms of the proliferation of these videos, populist communication styles appear to be favored on this platform. A mapping of the social composition and available resources of these activists shows that their usage of the platform to conduct activism is affected by these factors, demonstrating different pathways to becoming an influential activist on TikTok.

This study aims to look closely at a sample of the rhetoric used in the political scene in Spain today. The purpose is to see what rhetorical strategies leaders from two opposing parties, namely Pedro Sánchez (PSOE) and Santiago Abascal (VOX), use to convince voters of their own ideologies and opinions concerning the society. In addition, this study aims to see if populism, as a growing global trend, also can be found in their discourses. As populations are constantly exposed to political manipulation, investigations of political rhetoric is a continuous relevant research. The discourses chosen for this analysis were of approximately the same length, performed in nearby locations and time. A quantitative analysis was made where a list of frequently repeated words and their significance were drawn up and compared between the politicians. In addition, a qualitative analysis where the rhetorical strategies and criteria that highlight the ideological identity have been applied. The results obtained show a clear presence of populist rhetoric in the speech of Santiago Abascal (right party). To create a sense of national identity and group belonging with his listeners he used words such as Spaniards and Spain to a higher degree but also negative descriptions of others. Pedro Sánchez (left wing) also resorted to negative descriptions of others but differed by using number games to create a sense of credibility and inclusive language regarding gender.

[pt] Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar as bases sociopolíticas e econômicas da ascensão do populismo de direita conservador-autoritário no Brasil, entre os anos de 2016 e 2022, personalizado e vocalizado pelo então candidato à presidência da República Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Para isso, identificamos e analisamos os fatores conjunturais e estruturais que possibilitaram a ascensão de um ex-deputado federal ao cargo máximo do país, até então sem expressividade política e disputando o pleito por um partido político sem capilaridade nacional. Argumentamos que a vitória do ex-capitão do Exército brasileiro faz parte do fenômeno global do populismo contemporâneo na esteira da crise da representatividade nos países democráticos, mas que no caso brasileiro tem especificidade própria. Uma vez que o Brasil apresenta, ao contrário de boa parte dos Países da Europa Ocidental e dos Estados Unidos, baixa institucionalização do sistema partidário e votos, majoritariamente, personalistas, o que favorece as aventuras populistas. Ainda assim, tivemos fatores conjunturais e estruturais que favoreceram a maior inserção e o crescimento da direita no país, após 13 anos de governos do Partido dos Trabalhadores em nível nacional, bem como fatores associados às Jornadas de Junho de 2013, a Operação Lava Jato, o processo de impeachment de Dilma Rousseff, a emergência da pauta conservadora e de costumes na esfera pública. Essas circunstâncias favoreceram, pela primeira vez na história política brasileira, através do voto popular, a eleição de um candidato diretamente identificado com o campo da direita. Dessa forma, a estratégia político-eleitoral populista se organizou ao redor de cinco pilares de sustentação sociopolítica e econômica: lavajatismo e antipetismo, militares, evangélicos, agronegócio e redes sociais. No exercício do Poder Executivo, a partir de 2019, o populismo de direita de Bolsonaro estabeleceu relações conturbadas com os outros poderes da República, especialmente com o Poder Judiciário, e com os governos subnacionais, além de apoiar manifestações antidemocráticas. Podemos concluir, assim, que o bolsonarismo, como movimento político, tem um caráter mais estrutural do que conjuntural pela sua capilaridade nos segmentos sociopolíticos e econômicos da sociedade brasileira. / [en] This work aims to analyze the socio-political and economic bases of the riseof conservative-authoritarian right-wing populism in Brazil between 2016 and 2022, personalized and vocalized by then-presidential candidate Jair Messias Bolsonaro. To do this, we identified and analyzed the circumstantial and structura lfactors that made it possible for a former federal deputy to rise to the country shighest office, until then without political expressiveness and contesting the election for a political party without national capillarity. We argue that the victoryof the former Brazilian Army captain is part of the global phenomenon of contemporary populism in the wake of the crisis of representativeness in democratic countries, but that in the Brazilian case it has its own specificity. Unlike many Western European countries and the United States, Brazil has a poorly institutionalized party system and a majority of votes are personalist, which favours populist adventures. Even so, there were conjunctural and structural factors that promoted the greater insertion and growth of the right in the country, after 13 yearsof Workers Party governments at the national level, as well as factors associated with the June 2013 protests, Lava Jato Operation, Dilma Rousseff s impeachment process, the emergence of the conservative and customs agenda in the public sphere. These circumstances favored, for the first time in Brazilian political history, through the popular vote, the election of a candidate directly identified with the right-wingmovement. In this way, the populist political-electoral strategy was organized around five pillars of socio-political and economic support: lavajatismo (Lava Jato Operation) and antipetismo (anti left-wing party), the military, evangelicals, agribusiness and social networks. In the Executive Branch, from 2019, Bolsonaro sright-wing populism has established troubled relations with the other branches of government, especially the judiciary, and with sub-national governments, as wellas supporting anti-democratic demonstrations. We can therefore conclude that bolsonarismo, as a political movement, has a more structural than conjunctural character due to its capillarity in the socio-political and economic segments ofBrazilian society.

Literature on climate policy of political parties’ points to an emerging congruence between populist radical right parties and scepticism toward climate change and climate policy. This thesis explores this nexus via a case study of the Sweden Democrats (SD) climate policy over a period of twelve years (2010-2022). It examines if the Sweden Democrats have expressed variations of climate scepticism and whether this has varied over time. Idea analysis and a taxonomy of three categories of climate scepticism are used for analysing official policy material of the Sweden Democrats. This thesis finds that the Sweden Democrats have outcomes on all three categories of climate scepticism: evidence (i.e., whether human caused climate change is happening), process (related to bureaucratic and scientific processes, e.g., scepticism against dominant research paradigms and bureaucratic decision making), and response scepticism (related to policy choices dealing with climate change). Over time there has been a gradual migration of scepticism from evidence and process related scepticism toward more policy-oriented forms of scepticism that concerns type of policy and attitudinal responses to climate change. Sweden Democrats climate scepticism is primarily anchored in arguments related to desired levels of national response and issues of trade/offs, with climate scepticism frequently constructed through frameworks of the potential harm that climate mitigation may do to national sovereignty, national economy, and industries. Another finding is that the Sweden Democrats overall have a lower salience and prioritization of climate issues compared to other parties represented in parliament whose climate policy they criticize, presenting their climate policy as alternative to these parties. This thesis concludes that the Sweden Democrats climate scepticism is closer to an unconvinced stance toward climate change rather than strictly denialistic, with evidentiary sceptic arguments over time becoming less frequent and decreasing in the degree of scepticism.

Following the 2022 Swedish general election, all three of the Scandinavian countries have had right-wing populist parties either within the government or in cooperation with one. This thesis will review the origins and developments of the major, national, right-wing populist parties in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It will further focus on the respective party’s development of relationship with other, mainstream parties, as well as the progression of cooperations and advancement towards influence of governmental politics. With the Scandinavian states’ high level of similarities across various areas, this thesis aims to review and analyse similarities and differences from the three examples connected to the theories. This methodology is based as a qualitative, comparative study, focusing on gathered text materials such as academic works, political statements and news. The empirical material gathered will be analysed and connected to theories like convergence, political strategy and party ideology among others, with the aim to observe what aspects these theories have had regarding both the emergence of the right-wing populist parties in Scandinavia, as well as in connection to their development of cooperation with other parties. Central conclusions from the thesis’s discussion and analysis shows how political convergence through various acts and happenings, have supported the achievements of the right-wing populist parties’ goals of entering governmental cooperation. Moreover, comparisons between the countries show similarities such as these parties being shunned by the mainstream ones for example, while some differences include the societal statuses at the point of the parties’ origins.

This thesis deals with differences in the level of satisfaction with democracy between populists and non-populists in eleven Western European countries the past twenty years, with the common denominator that they all have experienced the electoral success of a populist radical-right party and a population increasingly expressing distrust and dissatisfaction with democracy. The thesis is based on a definition of populism in which it is regarded as a threat to democracy, and moreover, the thesis explores whether there are any significant differences in the level of satisfaction with democracy and whether these differences changes as time passes between these two voter groups.  The results of the analysis, which is carried out quantitively, strengthens the theoretical expectations, proving that there is a significant negative correlation between being populist and level of satisfaction with democracy, and that the effect becomes stronger as time passes. The results also align with the perception that societal changes such as modernization and globalization has contributed to the growth of new voter groups who express their dissatisfaction with democracy by opposing the establishment, thus turning to the political alternatives.

The subject of this bachelor thesis in political science has been to study how populistic rhetoric has evolved as a political phenomenon. The study has more specifically researched how presidential candidates have used populism in presidential debates. The bachelor thesis also studied if populistic rhetoric has changed over a time period between 1960 to 2016. To be able to study this, the essay has used critical discourse analysis to develop and understand how populism works. Ernesto Laclau’s On Populist Reason has also been used to create three models of understanding populism to develop the essays framework.  Through this the study has found that populistic rhetoric has come to be used more frequently in presidential debates. The study has also found that populistic rhetoric has changed form into a more aggressive style of rhetoric targeting the opponent’s character instead of the individual’s style of politics.

This study is researching the use of strategic communication in political campaigns oriented in social media platforms. The main character of this study is the Argentinian president Javier Milei during the second roundof his presidential campaign in 2023. The method used in this study is both qualitative and quantitative with a focus on content analysis. The selected data consists of nine posts from Javier Milei’s Instagram account, both video and pictures. The analysis of the research shows the strategic frame and discourse of his message in his campaign and how it shows in social media during the second round of the presidential candidacy, even research how newspapers portray him in articles. The conclusion of this study is that Javier Milei effectively used strategic political communication to frame himself as a populist leader against the elite. Heused social media, combined with traditional media coverage which allowed him to engage and mobilize voters through emotional and symbolic messages. His approach shows the importance of integrating various media channels to create a populist narrative to resonate with the voters in his campaign.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka innehållet i Sverigedemokraternas principprogram för att skapa en förståelse för inslag av radikal högerpopulism i partiets politiska ideologi, så som den kommer till uttryck i dessa texter. Forskningsfrågans relevans grundar sig i den splittring som identifierats bland forskare som sysslar med Sverigedemokraternas politiska ideologi och hur den bör definieras. Trots att Sverigedemokraterna är Sveriges näst största parti, vilket medför ett stort politiskt inflytande, finns alltså en osäkerhet bland forskare om partiets ideologi och intentioner. Det är vanligt förekommande att Sverigedemokraterna beskrivs baserat på deras ställningstagande i enskilda politiska frågor, exempelvis frågor om invandring, men i den här uppsatsen presenteras en analys av Sverigedemokraternas beskrivningar av Sverige, världen och politik i allmänhet. Mitt syfte ska besvaras genom en riktad kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Det material som analyseras är Sverigedemokraternas partiprogram/principprogram från åren 1996, 1999, 2003, 2011 och 2019. I analysen utgår jag från ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på Jens Rydgrens beskrivningar av radikal högerpopulism. En idealtyp för radikal högerpopulism formuleras med syftet att förenkla och förtydliga ideologins olika grundbultar. Resultatet visar att Sverigedemokraternas principprogram innehåller radikala högerpopulistiska tendenser under alla år, men det identifieras också skillnader som indikerar att principprogrammens primära fokus varierar under åren. Partiets invandringspolitiska ståndpunkter är centrala delar som går i linje med ideologin i samtliga program, där en intolerans inför olikheter och stark etnopluralistisk nationalism identifierats. De radikala högerpopulistiska tendenser som identifieras förekommer i en sådan utsträckning, även 2019, att studiens resultat kan tolkas som stöd till påståenden om att radikal högerpopulism kan användas för att beskriva Sverigedemokraternas ideologi. / The purpose of this study is to examine the content of the Sweden Democrats' party program in order to create an understanding of potential elements of radical right-wing populism in the party's ideology, as expressed in these texts. The relevance of the research question is based on the division identified among researchers of the Sweden Democrats' political ideology and how it should be defined. Even though the Sweden Democrats are Sweden's second largest party, which entails a large political influence, there is still a great deal of uncertainty among the public as well as experts about the party's ideology and intentions. It is common for the Sweden Democrats to be described based on their stance on individual political issues, for example issues of immigration, but this essay presents an analysis of the Sweden Democrats' descriptions of Sweden, the world and politics in general. My purpose is to be answered through a targeted qualitative content analysis. The material that is analyzed is the Sweden Democrats' party programs from the years 1996, 1999, 2003, 2011 and 2019. In the analysis, I use a theoretical framework based on Jens Rydgren's descriptions of radical right-wing populism. An ideal type for radical right-wing populism is formulated with the aim of simplifying and clarifying the core of the ideology. The results show that the Sweden Democrats' party programs contain radical right-wing populist tendencies between the years 1996-2019, but differences are also identified which indicate that the primary focus in the party programs vary over the years. The party’s immigration policies align particularly well with the ideology in all programs, where an intolerance towards differences and a strong ethnopluralist nationalism have been identified. The radical right-wing populist tendencies that are identified occur to such an extent, even in 2019, that the study's results can be interpreted as support for claims that radical right-wing populism can be used to describe the ideology of the Sweden Democrats.

Essay I (with Mattias Öhman): Fluoridation of the drinking water is a public policy whose aim is to improve dental health. Although the evidence is clear that fluoride is good for dental health, concerns have been raised regarding potential negative effects on cognitive development. We study the effects of fluoride exposure through the drinking water in early life on cognitive and non-cognitive ability, education and labor market outcomes in a large-scale setting. We use a rich Swedish register dataset for the cohorts born 1985-1992, together with drinking water fluoride data. To estimate the effect we exploit intra-municipality variation of fluoride, stemming from an exogenous variation in the bedrock. First, we investigate and confirm the long-established positive relationship between fluoride and dental health. Second, we find precisely estimated zero effects on cognitive ability, non-cognitive ability and education. We do not find any evidence that fluoride levels below 1.5 mg/l have negative effects. Third, we find evidence that fluoride improves labor market outcome later in life, which indicates that good dental health is a positive factor on the labor market. / Essay II: Motivated by the intense public debate in the United States regarding politicians’ backgrounds, I investigate the effects of electing a candidate with earlier experience from elective office to the House of Representatives. The U.S. two-party-system with single-member election districts enables me to estimate the causal effect in a RD design where the outcomes are measured at the election district level. I find some indications that candidates with earlier elective experience are more likely to be members of important congressional committees. I also find some indications that directed federal spending (pork barrel spending) is higher in those districts were the elected representative had earlier elective experience prior of being elected to the House, but the effect manifests itself some years after the election. In contrast, I find no robust or statistically significant effects for personal income per capita or unemployment rate in the home district. / Essay III: This paper uses Swedish and Finnish municipal data to investigate the effect of changes in voter turnout on the tax rate, public spending and vote-shares. A reform in Sweden in 1970, which overall lowered the cost of voting, is applied as an instrument for voter turnout in local elections. The reform increased voter turnout in Sweden. The higher voter turnout resulted in higher municipal taxes and greater per capita local public spending. There are also indications that higher turnout decreased the vote share for right-wing parties. I use an individual survey data set to conclude that it was in particular low income earners that began to vote to a greater extent after the reform. / Essay IV (with Lovisa Persson): In a theoretical model where voters and politicians have different preferences for how much to spend on basic welfare services contra reception services for asylum seekers, we conclude that established politicians that are challenged by right-wing populists will implement a policy with no spending on asylum seekers if the cost is high enough. Additionally, adjustment to right-wing populist policy is more likely when the economy is in a recession. Voters differ in their level of private consumption in such a way that lower private consumption implies higher demand for basic welfare services at the expense of reception of asylum seekers, and thus stronger disposition to support right-wing populist policies. We propose that this within-budget-distributional conflict can arise as an electorally decisive conflict dimension if parties have converged to the median voter on the size-of-government issue.