Abstract

In this paper we analyse how populist leaders in UK and Italy – namely Nigel Farage, Nicola Sturgeon, Giorgia Meloni, and Matteo Salvini – reacted to the first and second lockdowns on their Twitter accounts, communicating directly to their people. The analysis was carried out following a combined qualitative and quantitative approach to discourse. The qualitative analysis focused on comparing populist leaders’ rhetorical and semiotic choices, while the quantitative analysis observed the response by the community of common Twitter users. This work aims on the one hand at unveiling the strategic use of social media by populist leaders and on the other at investigating conflictual interactional dynamics, especially in times of crisis.

Abt, K., and S. Rummens. 2007. "Populism versus Democracy". Political Studies 55 (2): 405-424.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00657.x

Acemoglu, D., G. Egorov, and K. Sonin. 2013. "A Political Theory of Populism". The Quarterly Journal of Economics 128 (2): 771-805.

https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs077

Arienzo, A., P. Chiantera-Stutte, e S. Visentin, eds. 2021. "Introduzione. Covid/19 e politica. Note sul presente". Politics. Rivista di studi politici (Special Issue) 15 (1): 67-73.

Blassnig, S., N. Ernst, S. Engesser, and F. Esser. 2020. "Populism and Social Media Popularity: How Populist Communication Benefits Political Leaders on Facebook and Twitter". In Power Shift? Political Leadership and Social Media, edited by R. Davis and D. Taras, 97-111. London: Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429466007-7

Bobba, G., and N. Hubé, eds. 2021. Populism and the Politicization of the COVID-19 Crisis in Europe. London: Pagrave Macmillan.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66011-6

Bracciale, R., and A. Martella. 2017. "Define the Populist Political Communication Style: The Case of Italian Political Leaders on Twitter". Information, Communication & Society 20 (9): 1310-1329.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1328522

Brubaker, R. 2021. "Paradoxes of Populism during the Pandemic". Thesis Eleven 164 (1): 73-87.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513620970804

Charteris-Black, J. 2011. Politicians and Rhetoric: The Persuasive Power of Metaphor. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230319899

Engesser, S., et al. 2017. "Populism and Social Media: How Politicians Spread a Fragmented Ideology". Information, Communication & Society 20 (8): 1109-1126.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1207697

Ernst, N., et al. 2017. "Extreme Parties and Populism: An Analysis of Facebook and Twitter across Six Countries". Information, Communication & Society 20 (9): 1347-1364.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1329333

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, March 23). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1242092885828403201

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, March 24a). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1242356256037384192

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, March 24b). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1242477917826777093

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, March 26). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1243219200249933824

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, March 27). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1243636809491517443

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, March 29). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1244201146387963904

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, October 31a). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1322620519737397252

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, October 31b). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1322610522144067584

Farage, N. [@Nigel_Farage] (2020, November 1). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1323024828132134913

Faulkner, P. 2021. "Lockdown a Case Study in How to Lose Trust and Undermine Compliance". Global Discourse 11 (3): 497-515.

https://doi.org/10.1332/204378921X16106635782045

Gerbaudo, P. 2018. "Social Media and Populism: An Elective Affinity?". Media, Culture & Society 40 (5): 745-753.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718772192

Giardiello, M. 2021. "Populismi digitali al tempo del Covid-19". Rivista di Digital Politics 1 (2): 341-362.

Hidalgo-Tenorio, E., and M.Á. Benitez-Castro. 2021. "Trump's Populist Discourse and Affective Politics, or on How to Move 'the People' through Emotion". Globalisation, Societies and Education 20 (2): 86-109.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2020.1861540

Hidalgo-Tenorio, E., M.Á. Benitez-Castro, and F. De Cesare. 2019. "Introduction. Unraveling Populist Discourse". In Populist Discourse: Critical Approaches to Contemporary Politics, edited by E. Hidalgo-Tenorio, M.Á. Benitez-Castro, and F. De Cesare, 1-13. London: Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429026751-1

Jagers, J., and S. Walgrave. 2007. "Populism as a Political Communication Style: An Empirical Study of Political Parties' Discourse in Belgium". European Journal of Political Research 32 (3): 344-364.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00690.x

Jakubíček, M., A. Kilgarriff, V. Kovář, P. Rychlý, and V. Suchomel. 2013. The TenTen corpus family. In 7th International Corpus Linguistics Conference CL, 125-127.

Kazin, M. 1998. The Populist Persuasion: An American History. New York - London: Cornell University Press.

Kilgarriff, A. 2009. "Simple Maths for Keywords". In Proceedings of Corpus Linguistics Conference CL2009, edited by M. Mahlberg, V. González-Díaz, and C. Smith. University of Liverpool.

Kilgarriff, A., et al. 2014. "The Sketch Engine: Ten Years on". Lexicography 1: 7-36.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40607-014-0009-9

Krämer, B. 2014. "Media Populism: A Conceptual Clarification and Some Theses on Its Effects". Communication Theory 24: 42-60.

https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12029

Krämer, B. 2018. "Populism, Media, and the Form of Society". Communication Theory 28: 444-465.

https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qty017

Laclau, E. 2005. On Populist Reason. New York: Verso.

Lasco, G. 2020. "Medical Populism and the COVID-19 Pandemic". Global Public Health 15 (10): 1417-1429.

https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1807581

Lorenzetti, M.I. 2022. "Dramatising Crisis: Rhetorical Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic by Right-Wing Populist Leaders in the USA and UK". Lingue e Linguaggi 47: 13-45.

Machin, D., and A. Mayr. 2012. How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. London: Sage.

March, L. 2017. "Left and Right Populism Compared: The British Case". The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19 (2): 282-303.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117701753

Meloni, G. [@GiorgiaMeloni] (2020, March 9). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1236961013431500800

Meloni, G. [@GiorgiaMeloni] (2020, March 10). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1237328726620340225

Meloni, G. [@GiorgiaMeloni] (2020, March 11). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1237871912560111616

Meloni, G. [@GiorgiaMeloni] (2020, March 13). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1238570267858931719

Meloni, G. [@GiorgiaMeloni] (2020, November 3). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1323561381464080385

Meloni, G. [@GiorgiaMeloni] (2020, November 6). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1324665441860673536

Moffitt, B. 2015. "How to Perform Crisis: A Model for Understanding the Key Role of Crisis in Contemporary Populism". Government and Opposition 50 (2): 189-217.

https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2014.13

Moffitt, B. 2016. The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style and Representation. Stanford (CA): Stanford University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804799331

Mudde, C. 2004. "The Populist Zeitgeist". Government and Opposition 39 (4): 542-563.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.x

Mudde, C., and C.R. Kaltwasser. 2017. Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780190234874.001.0001

Pappas, T., and H. Kriesi. 2015. "Populism and Crisis: A Fuzzy Relationship". In European Populism in the Shadow of the Great Recession, edited by H. Kriesi and T.S. Pappas, 303-325. Colchester (UK): ECPR Press.

Rainer, H., and S. Thomas. 2009. "Does Democracy Foster Trust?". Journal of Comparative Economics 37: 251-269.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2008.09.003

Ringe, N., and L. Rennó. 2022. "Populists and the Pandemic: How Populists around the World Responded to COVID-19". In Populists and the Pandemic: How Populists around the World Responded to COVID-19, edited by N. Ringe and L. Rennó, 1-18. London: Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003197614-1

Ringe, N., L. Rennó, and C.R. Kaltwasser. 2022. "Conclusion". In Populists and the Pandemic: How Populists around the World Responded to COVID-19, edited by N. Ringe and L. Rennó, 273-292. London: Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003197614-24

Ruzza, C., and S. Fella. 2009. Re-Inventing the Italian Right: Territorial, Politics, Populism and 'Post-Fascism'. London: Routledge.

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, March 10). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1237419794825121795

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, March 11a). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1237875002961047552

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, March 11b). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1237846507518193666

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, March 13). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1238542686661029893

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, March 14). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1238734180651073539

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, November 4). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1324090055405785093

Salvini, M. [@matteosalvinimi] (2020, November 7). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1325028761872576517

Scott, M. 2001. "Mapping Key Words to Problem and Solution". In Patterns of Text: In Honour of Michael Hoey, edited by M. Scott and G. Thompson, 109-128. London: John Benjamins.

https://doi.org/10.1075/z.107.07sco

Stavrakakis, Y. 2017. "Discourse Theory in Populism Research: Three Challenges and a Dilemma". Journal of Language and Politics 16 (4): 523-534.

https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17025.sta

Sturgeon N. [@NicolaSturgeon] (2020, March 25a). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1242867691033108480

Sturgeon N. [@NicolaSturgeon] (2020, March 25b). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1242847255243165697

Sturgeon N. [@NicolaSturgeon] (2020, March 28a). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1243856655059689476

Sturgeon N. [@NicolaSturgeon] (2020, March 28b). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1243896454395113474

Sturgeon N. [@NicolaSturgeon] (2020, October 31). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1322501925682761728

Sturgeon N. [@NicolaSturgeon] (2020, November 3). Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1323529838251118592

Taggart, P. 2000. Populism. Open University Press.

Taylor, A., and A. Marchi, eds. 2018. Corpus Approaches to Discourse. London: Routledge.

van Dijk, T.A. 1998. Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.

van Kessel, S., and R. Castelein. 2016. "Shifting the Blame: Populist Politicians' Use of Twitter as a Tool of Opposition". Journal of Contemporary European Research 12 (2): 594-614.

https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v12i2.709

van Leeuwen, T. 2008. Discourse and Practice: New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323306.001.0001

Weyland, K. 2001. "Clarifying a Contested Concept: Populism in the Study of Latin American Politics". Comparative Politics 34 (1): 1-22.

https://doi.org/10.2307/422412

Wodak R. 2021. "Crisis Communication and Crisis Management during COVID-19". Global Discourse 11 (3): 329-353.

https://doi.org/10.1332/204378921X16100431230102