Understanding populism: The relationship between political function and political language: Populist mobilization in Germany, Poland and Austria

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a model of political communication of populist parties on election posters (n=208) of the AfD in Germany and the FPÖ in Austria. Populist parties communicate consciously and in a reduced way on election posters, presenting political messages textually and visually. What pervades this thesis is the endeavour to identify typical elements of populist mobilisation and to design a model of populist communication. Following Charmaz, the Grounded Theory approach ensures a strong text-based analysis in order to approach the material in an unbiased and inductive way. To identify typical elements, the collected material is coded in two steps using MAXQDA software. The election posters of AfD and FPÖ illustrate the division of society into "we" and "the others". On the one hand, patriotism, collectivisation and the appeal to positive values shape the "we", while on the other hand, images of the enemy through references to cultural otherness, the discrediting of political elites and the creation of fear establish the reference to "the others". By valorising, defending and representing the "real people", populist parties reveal the relevance of the "for you" component. Paternalistic expressions, traditional moral concepts and a threat to the self-image of the "real...