POPULISM SOM IDEOLOGI ELLER STIL? En kvalitativ studie av Sverigedemokraternas och Dansk Folkepartis politiska kommunikation

Sammanfattning

The rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe has increased interest in how populism should be defined and understood. One established approach conceptualises populism as a thin ideology with a normative core. Another approach understands populism as a political style focused on how political messages are performed and communicated. However, less attention has been paid to how these two definitions function when they are applied to the same empirical material. This study examines the extent to which populist expressions in the political communication of the Sweden Democrats and the Danish People’s Party can be understood as ideological content, political style, or a combination of both. The study is based on a qualitative textual analysis of party leader speeches, parliamentary speeches and programmatic texts. The analysis shows that populism in the material is primarily expressed as ideological content, especially through ideas about the people, the elite and political legitimacy. Political style is also present, but mainly functions as a rhetorical reinforcement of these normative ideas. The study therefore suggests that populism as a thin ideology has greater explanatory power, while political style helps explain how populist ideas are dramatised and communicated in specific contexts. Future research could further test these definitions on other types of populist parties, such as left-wing populist parties, and on other forms of political communication.