Chapter 6
Croatia and Slovenia
Argumentation and identity construction by supporters of populists in
the context of the 2019 European elections
This chapter analyses the argumentation of populist
parties’ supporters in Croatia and Slovenia in the context of the 2019
European Parliament elections. It focuses on two countries that are rather
different in terms of populist tendencies, juxtaposing right-wing (Slovenia)
and left-wing (Croatia) supporters’ voices. The analysis concentrates on the
topics and motivations most frequently addressed in Facebook comments on an
election video posted by the Croatian leftist populist party Živi zid, and
online comments on news stories posted by people supporting right-wing
populist parties in Slovenia. The focus is on examining identities that they
discursively construct for themselves and their political favourites on the
one hand, and for Others (e.g., other parties and their supporters) on the
other.
Article outline
- Introduction and background
- Material, methods and theoretical framework
- Voices of Croatian populist supporters
- Živi zid: Background
- Facebook comments triggered by the ŽZ election video in May
2019
- The election video
- Social actors’ representation, positioning, and recurring topics
in the comments
- Supporters’ motivation
- The ingroup and their Others
- Voices of Slovenian supporters
- Right-wing supporters’ voices in online comments: Background
- Recurring topics and representation
- Identity construction: The ingroup and their Others
- Supporters’ motivation
- Conclusion
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Acknowledgements
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Notes