This thesis examines the political style and public image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. It argues that Chávez fulfills the criteria of a classical populist, in accordance with renowned cases of populism in Latin American history. His style is further analyzed through Chávezs relationship with his Venezuelan supporters and his diplomacy in the Latin American community. Three characteristics are emphasized: the radicalism of his image and policy, a casual and accessible approach, and the use of historical references. This thesis relies on primary sources such as speeches, interviews, and government publications, as well as media coverage of the Chávez regime. This study expounds the polarization of Venezuelan politics under Chávez, and connects his leadership to a larger trend in Latin American history.

This thesis examines the political style and public image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. It argues that Chávez fulfills the criteria of a classical populist, in accordance with renowned cases of populism in Latin American history. His style is further analyzed through Chávezs relationship with his Venezuelan supporters and his diplomacy in the Latin American community. Three characteristics are emphasized: the radicalism of his image and policy, a casual and accessible approach, and the use of historical references. This thesis relies on primary sources such as speeches, interviews, and government publications, as well as media coverage of the Chávez regime. This study expounds the polarization of Venezuelan politics under Chávez, and connects his leadership to a larger trend in Latin American history.

There is a significant number of politicians around the globe who demonstrate the conventions of personal style in their political agenda. Norway’s Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg or United States’ President, Barack Obama is a few examples. Personalization of politics was reflected through their Twitter account in the notion of content, pictures, and language tone. In the Indonesian political context, Ridwan Kamil became visible as a prominent leader and received immense popularity on Twitter. Social media platforms have changed the way politicians and citizens interact. They are a platform where individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. Especially with Twitter, certain features such reply, retweet, and hashtag are powerful tools to integrate their political value and construct their persona on Twitter.  This research is conducted by using mixed-method methodologies. The results from content analysis and discourse analysis will complete each other. The results of the content analysis have shown that what Kamil shares on his Twitter profile is mostly about his philosophy about good governance; social media has become a shortcut in the bureaucracy process and at the same time he manages to seem ordinary and authentic with sharing his personal preferences about music or popular culture phenomenon. Discourse analysis is complementing these findings by showing how Kamil deploys language to produce a certain identity. Kamil is crafting his social media skills and shifting from formal to informal tone at every occasion and construct his persona as professional, fun, and caring. All of these results are important inquiries to describe the politician’s presence on Twitter. As the effect of truth, the Twitter user can still relate to Kamil as an ordinary human being. Focusing on the extent to which the content and users’ personality re-fashion political marketing, the study propose how politician integrate their political value and construct their persona on Twitter. As social media grows globally, the phenomenon of politics and social media also appears in Indonesian political sphere especially Twitter as a new space to offer political rhetoric, posturing, and presentational techniques for political agendas.

This thesis aims to examine if performative populism exists within the Sweden Democrats and if the level of populism has changed over time. By using a gradational approach when conceptualising populism, it seeks to address a case of ‘mixed bags’. Furthermore, this paper address questions regarding how to measure populism and how to operationalise populism into context. Populism is conceptualised as a political style, according to Benjamin Moffitt’s work on populism. Thus, the performative side of the leader is central. This includes content, rhetoric, gestures and the theatrical side of the leader’s performance. By using a twofold methodological approach, a quantitative content analysis, followed by a qualitative one, both frequency of populist indications and how they relate to each other can be accounted for. Results indicate that populism exists within the Sweden Democrats, and that the level of populism seems to be increasing over time. Moreover, while the methodological approach is sufficient for measuring the level in terms of less and more, it cannot account for degree in terms of index.