Populism har de senaste åren blivit ett ökande fenomen i västvärlden, där partier och politiska aktörer som benämns som populistiska vinner alltmer mark. Även årets riksdagsval i Sverige följde denna trend, där Sverigedemokraterna (ett parti som har beskrivits som populistiskt) blev det näst största partiet och samarbetsparti till den nya regeringen. Trots kommunikationens viktiga roll inom populism har denna aspekt av populism i det stora hela oftast blivit förbisedd inom forskningen. Det gäller också tidigare forskning om populism i Sverige, som oftast har fokuserat på populistiska aktörers innehåll och deras ideologiska positioner. Tidigare forskning om populism i Sverige har också oftast fokuserat på partiet Sverigedemokraterna och inte studerat andra partiers användning av populism. Mot bakgrund av denna lucka i forskningen samt Sverigedemokraternas framgångar och konventionella partiers beslut att samarbeta med partiet, har denna studie valt att undersöka om och i sådana fall hur tre svenska politiska aktörer (Ulf Kristersson, Magdalena Andersson, Jimmie Åkesson) använder sig av populism i sin politiska kommunikation. Syftet har varit att undersöka hur populism som politisk kommunikation används och tar sig uttryck. Konkret har uppsatsen, genom en tematisk analys, analyserat de tre partiledarnas Almedalstal valåret 2022 och med hjälp av det teoretiska ramverket undersökt vilka populistiska element som kan urskiljas i talen och hur de används i den politiska kommunikationen. Studien identifierade att alla dessa tre politiska aktörer använde sig av populism för att mobilisera väljarstöd, men att de gjorde det med hjälp av populism på olika sätt, genom tre olika identifierade teman. Ulf Kristersson använde sig av det identifierade temat den rättfärdiga vinnaren genom att använda sig av populism för att framhålla sig själv och sin sida som den rättfärdiga och kompetenta vinnaren av valet. Jimmie Åkesson använde sig av populism i de identifierade temat landets räddare för att framställa Sverige som ett land i djup kris och han och hans parti som de enda om kan rädda landet. Till sist använde sig Magdalena Andersson av det identifierande temat mobiliseringen av en nationell gemenskap, där hon till skillnad från Kristersson och Åkesson använde sig av populism för att framhålla en enande svensk identitet och kultur som väljare kan identifiera sig med. Studiens resultat mynnar ut i en diskussion om användningen av begreppet populism och om man mer ska se populism som en komponent av politiska aktörers kommunikation och inte som ett definierande drag av politiska aktörers politiska identitet. Detta med tanke på att resultatet av studien visade att alla de politiska aktörerna använde sig av populism trots deras politiska och ideologiska skillnader. / In recent years, populism has become an increased phenomenon in the Western world, where parties and political actors that are called populist are increasingly gaining ground. This year's parliamentary elections in Sweden also followed this trend, where the Sweden Democrats (a party that has been described as populist) became the second largest party and a collaborating party to the new government. Despite the important role of communication in populism, this aspect of populism as a whole has often been overlooked in research. This applies to previous research on populism in Sweden, which usually focuses on the content of populist actors and their ideological positions. Previous research on populism in Sweden has also focused on the Sweden Democrats and not studied other parties' use of populism. Against this gap in the research and the Sweden Democrats successes and conventional parties' decisions to cooperate with the party, this study set out to analyze whether, and in such cases, how three Swedish political actors in the form of party leaders Magdalena Andersson, Ulf Kristersson and Jimmie Åkesson used populism in their political communication. The aim has been to examine how populism as political communication is used and expressed. Concretely, the essay has, through a thematic analysis, analyzed the Almedal speeches of the three party leaders in the election year 2022 and, with the help of the theoretical framework, examined which populist elements can be distinguished in the speeches and how they are used in political communication. The study identified that all these three political actors used populism to mobilize voter support, but that they did so using populism in different ways, through three different identified themes. Ulf Kristersson used the identified theme of the righteous winner by using populism to promote himself and his side as the righteous and competent winner of the election. Jimmie Åkesson used populism in the identified theme of the country's savior to portray Sweden as a country in deep crisis and he and his party as the only ones who can save the country. Finally, Magdalena Andersson used the identified theme of the mobilization of a national community, where, unlike Kristersson and Åkesson, she used populism to emphasize a unifying Swedish identity and culture that voters can identify with. The results of the study prompted a discussion about the use of the term populism and whether, given that the results of the study showed that all the political actors used populism despite their political and ideological differences, populism should be seen as a component of political actor’s communication and not as an identifying feature of a political actor's political identity.

The purpose of the thesis is to examine the political material published before the parliamentary elections 2018 from two party leaders who were competing for the prime minister's role in 2018. Stefan Löfven and Ulf Kristersson are the two political actors who present themselves and  their party for the parliamentary elections in 2018. The two social media that has been selected are Facebook and Instagram, which at the time of the study were the most widely used around the world. This study use Aristotle's philosophy about the rhetoric’s ethos, logos and pathos and Walter Lippman's research on agenda theory. These two theories explain that people communicate through different rhetorical arguments and agendas, especially in political communication where the goal is often to convince the people what the society looks like. The goal is to gain their trust for the election. The survey shows that this indeed is used by both Löfven and Kristersson, though in different ways. The differences may be different due to the high probability of party leaders ahead of the parliamentary elections. Löfven is already prime minister and is running for second term, while Kristersson is newly elected party leader and new candidate to become Sweden's prime minister. What became surprising during the study was to see how they both benefit from using ethos, logos and pathos in a way that truly represent the party’s political statements. The conclusion that can be drawn from the results is that during the parliamentary elections 2018 Kristersson focused on sending a more persuasive message that the Moderates are the obvious choice and through his ways of painting the reality sent a signal that he, as the future party leader, is fully ready to responsible address Sweden. Löfven, on the other hand, focused on to channel a more relaxed presentation of himself as well as a message aimed to the working class in society. Much of his speech consisted of his proximity to the people and understanding of their everyday problems.