During his presidential campaign and throughout his presidency Donald Trump’s dealings with illegal immigration have sparked global controversy. The election of Donald Trump has thus insinuated a debate within the academic field of International Relations and a reoccurring concept within said debate is populism. This thesis includes itself into said debate through considering the empirical case study of the Trump administration’s securitization of illegal immigration. More specifically, it investigates how Trump’s securitizing speech acts fuel populism in the US which challenges discourses of open borders and subsequently affects US-Mexico relations. The thesis analyzes polls to captivate the US’ general population as an audience and applies discourse analysis on speeches held by Donald Trump to grasp how the Trump administration’s securitization of illegal immigration fueled populism in the US. It studies the negative effects of the securitization on US-Mexico relations by examining the reactions of Mexican presidents, members of the Mexican Foreign Relations Department and members of the Mexican senate. It is found that Trump’s rhetoric employed throughout the securitization of illegal immigration fueled authoritarian populism and xenophobic populism in the US which captivates the negative sentiments of the predominantly conservative Republican voters towards illegal immigration. The employed rhetoric subsequently challenged discourses of open borders. The effects of said challenges had negative implications on US-Mexico relations as the investigations of the reactions of the Mexican presidents, the members of the Mexican Foreign Relations Department and the members of the Mexican senate have shown.

This study seeks to examine the how populism impacts foreign policy discourse. The study applies role theory to the empirical case of the Brazil-China bilateral relationship in order to observe changes within role conceptions or role prescriptions before and after the election of populist leader Jair Bolsonaro. The research question put forward is   As a result of the election of populist president Jair Bolsonaro, in the case of the bilateral relationship between Brazil and China, has 1)    the role conception of Brazil’s own role changed, and if so, how? 2)    the role prescription of Chinas role changed, if so, how?    3 hypotheses are developed, based on the chosen definitions of populism, and tested on the material. The chosen materials for the study are speeches and tweets by incumbent presidents or other high-ranking officials. The data has been collected from Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs website, or the official government website of Brazil. The chosen methodology is a qualitative text analysis. The study finds support for two out of the three hypotheses. These relate to anti-pluralism and anti-elitism as central aspects of populist discourse. The study does not find bad manners to be a key aspect of populist foreign policy discourse. The analysis reveals that the role conception has changed in some ways whilst the role prescription has remained strikingly similar.

This study analyses mistrust of media. Door-to-door interviews were conducted with 318 respondents in six different parts of Sweden. In 2015 the Swedish research institute SOM published an interesting study of mistrust of media in Sweden, showing that the group that mistrust the media is dominated by supporters of the Sweden Democrats. The aim of this study is to gain understanding of the causes and nature of mistrust of media. The interviews featured both open and closed questions, covering political interest and the respondents opinions about what is good and less good in society. This essay primarily analyses the issues that concern trust in the media linked to community involvement. This essay is based on the framework of a larger study by the think tank Arena Idé. The interviews were conducted by 10 interviewers and the coding of the material was done by a person employed by the think tank. For the interview guide, a code scheme was created and the computer programme Nvivo was used for the coding. Employing theories about public connection and the hostile media effect, this study aims to provide a better understanding of popular mistrust. The findings point to the conclusion that there are reasons to believe that a hostile media effect exists. The expressions of mistrust of media are classified into three different themes: Source criticism, Alleged obfuscation of truth, and Angling of media. The connection to society in the group with a low level of trust in the media is found to be narrow but intense.

The following study is a qualitative text analysis and an idea- and ideologyanalysis with the aim of examining the Sweden Democrats view on women over time and if the party’s organizational and ideological development is reflected in the party’s ideas regarding women’s role in society. The material of research consists of the Sweden Democrats party programs which has been analysed through conservatism and populism, which is the theoretical framework of this study. The results of the analysis have been divided into three different time periods and the first period between 1989-1999 indicated a strong connection between the Sweden Democrats view on women and a conservative view on women. During the second and third time period, between the years 1999-2018, the operational indicators for a conservative view on women could not be discovered, however several operational indicators which indicated a populistic view on women could be established. Previous academic research has categorized the Sweden Democrats view on women as conservative, but the results of this study´s analysis argues that the party´s view on women rather should be described as populism.

This study takes a close look at the making of the Spanish left-wing populist party Podemos, paying special attention to the populist project devised by its original group of founders to capitalize on the political opportunities created by the 2008 economic crisis and the Indignados movement of 2011. Part I examines how Podemos’ founders used digital technology to connect with followers and exchange support and influence with them. It shows that online platforms constitute a precious tool in the hands of populist leaders who seek to mobilize plebiscitarian support for their authority and goals while creating a semblance of democratic participation. Part II delves deep into the biographical histories of the main founders of Podemos to investigate the beliefs and desires guiding their populist project. Based on a combination of qualitative research methods, including archival research, expert interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis, this study challenges the common notion that the founders of Podemos subscribe to the populist “ideology.” Instead, it demonstrates that they used populism strategically in order to take advantage of what Podemos’ leader Pablo Iglesias called a “Leninist moment” – an exceptional situation in which the seizure of power (through electoral means) becomes possible for a Communist party. It also shows that Ernesto Laclau’s theory of populism exerted a strong influence on some party founders. This was particularly the case for Íñigo Errejón, the main proponent of populism in Podemos, who used Laclau’s theory as a guide to thought and action and turned his book On Populist Reason into the first “sacred text” of the populist tradition.

This thesis deals with the German political party "Die Linke" (The Left). Die Linke was founded in 2007 by merging two different parties, namely Linkspartei.PDS, which was preceded by the ruling party of the GDR, and WASG, composed of West German activists and former party members of the Social Democratic Party. The opening parts contain definitions of basic terminology and a brief history of parties preceding Die Linke. The following sections deal with how the dual history of the party reflects in its organisation, its program and electorate. The party programs are also used to analyze its key program points and their evolution over time. The party's ideology is also examined. This thesis also deals with the current position of Die Linke within the German party system, in terms of both the voters and election results, and relations with other relevant parties.

This thesis is aimed at analysing key similarities and differences of the Englsih Defence League and the German-born social movement PEGIDA. Whereas both movements have a common goal, to stop the perceived Islamisation of their respective countries, and Europe as a whole, the means and methods vary greatly. Moreover, it is argued that the followership of said organisations differ in age, social background and motivation. Both organisations are able to exert a certain amount of influence on their supporters, the rest of the society, as well as policy- makers and the political elite. Both organisations have influenced the societal and political climate of their respective countries of origin and also in the countries in the European neighbourhood with links to individuals and organisations in North America.

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This master's thesis is dedicated to the issue of populism in politics. It has been designed as an exploration of the discourse of this phenomenon during the 2020 United States presidential elections. The goal of the thesis was to identify, describe and compare usage of populist elements by both main presidential candidates. Theory of Cas Mudde was chosen as the foundation. Theoretical part is split into two chapters which are devoted to the topics of populism and context of the American society. These segments introduce and define core concepts that will be subsequently used. Practical part is divided into two chapters as well. Initially, we present various aspects of the methodology of our qualitative research. It is based on the analysis of two presidential debates conducted through discursive-historical approach of critical discursive analysis. Henceforth, the following section is focused on the analysis and interpretation of acquired data. The output of this process is the exploration of the discourse as well as description and contrasting of populist tendencies of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The analysis has shown presence of populist elements in both campaigns. Specifically, Biden's conception of the people is predominantly populist, whereas his approach towards elites and the will of the...

The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic demanded a strong and firm state response in order to curb the unprecedented, multilevel crisis caused by the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The arrival of the virus in the EU in early 2020, including the terrible Italian first-wave outbreak, incited the primacy of health and life over any other right or freedom. Although understandable, this scenario raised concerns over the possibility of instrumentalization of the pandemic by the populist governments, given the affinity between the rise of populism discourse and practices in the event, or narrative, of crisis. With consideration of the conditions of the rule of law in the European Union, the quasi-autocracies of Poland and Hungary become interesting research objects. The present work describes these countries' measures and analyses their legality and compliance to the rule of law, together with considerations to the impact of said measures upon these countries' democratic institutions. Furthermore, the same operation will be performed for the Italian scenario, which leads to a comparison to be made between the three countries' pandemic managements, and, ultimately, a comparison between the Central-Eastern European populism and Western European populism. Due to the novelty of the subject, there is a lack of work on the...