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Old Foe, New Friend? : Rhetorical responses of mainstream parties towards a radical right party

Calvo, Esther LU orcid (2025)
Abstract
With their increasing electoral success, radical right (populist) parties (RRPs) are consolidating their presence in many western democracies. It is well-documented that mainstream parties alter policy positions and issue salience during elections to meet the RRP challenge, yet how these strategies unfold in parliament remains an area to be explored. In this dissertation, I focus on two attributes of legislative speeches, namely sentiment and issue attention, which I argue mainstream parties can leverage to compete against RRPs. These attributes, which I refer to as “rhetorical responses”, vary and are shaped by the mainstream party’s choice of strategy, the electoral threat from the RRP, as well as the extent to which the radical right... (More)
With their increasing electoral success, radical right (populist) parties (RRPs) are consolidating their presence in many western democracies. It is well-documented that mainstream parties alter policy positions and issue salience during elections to meet the RRP challenge, yet how these strategies unfold in parliament remains an area to be explored. In this dissertation, I focus on two attributes of legislative speeches, namely sentiment and issue attention, which I argue mainstream parties can leverage to compete against RRPs. These attributes, which I refer to as “rhetorical responses”, vary and are shaped by the mainstream party’s choice of strategy, the electoral threat from the RRP, as well as the extent to which the radical right and main rival bloc engage in the RRP’s defining issue, that is immigration. Paper 1 applies sentiment analysis to legislative speeches in the Swedish Riksdag. We find that MPs from Swedish mainstream parties use more negative language when addressing Sweden Democrats (SD) compared to when their speeches are directed at other mainstream parties. Furthermore, we demonstrate that negativity has declined over time, particularly among the center-right MPs. Paper 2 reveals a differentiation in the levels of negativity between legislators from the center-left and center-right blocs. Specifically, I observe a less antagonistic tone in the speeches by center-right legislators who represent electoral districts where SD’s vote share has increased relative to their own party. In Paper 4 I find that immigration’s salience in mainstream party speeches is positively associated with the RRP’s attention to the issue and its electoral performance, as well as with a main rival bloc’s emphasis on immigration. Moreover, in Paper 3, I explore the consequences of the negativity expressed in legislative speeches towards SD on partisans’ affective polarization towards the RRP. By combining the National-SOM survey data with legislative speech data, I find that a partisan’s affective polarization towards SD increases as their in-party’s rhetoric towards the RRP becomes more negative, and that this relationship remains robust even when accounting for conventional predictors of affective polarization. Overall, the findings of this dissertation suggest that party responses towards the RRP go beyond merely altering policy positions during elections. More importantly, they identify the conditions under which politicians of mainstream parties are most likely to adjust their rhetorical responses towards the RRP. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Med sina markanta valframgångar befäster högerradikala (populistiska) partier (RRP) sin närvaro i många västerländska demokratier. Det är väldokumenterat att etablerade partier ändrar sina politiska ståndpunkter och sin framtoning i valrörelser för att möta utmaningen från RRP:s, men hur dessa strategier utvecklas i parlamenten är fortfarande ett outforskat område. I den här avhandlingen fokuserar jag på två aspekter av tal i parlamentet, nämligen känslor och uppmärksamhet på sakfrågan, vilket etablerade partier kan utnyttja för att konkurrera med RRP. Dessa egenskaper, som jag kallar ”retoriska svar”, varierar och formas av det etablerade partiets val av strategi, hotet från RRP, samt i vilken utsträckning den radikala högern och det... (More)
Med sina markanta valframgångar befäster högerradikala (populistiska) partier (RRP) sin närvaro i många västerländska demokratier. Det är väldokumenterat att etablerade partier ändrar sina politiska ståndpunkter och sin framtoning i valrörelser för att möta utmaningen från RRP:s, men hur dessa strategier utvecklas i parlamenten är fortfarande ett outforskat område. I den här avhandlingen fokuserar jag på två aspekter av tal i parlamentet, nämligen känslor och uppmärksamhet på sakfrågan, vilket etablerade partier kan utnyttja för att konkurrera med RRP. Dessa egenskaper, som jag kallar ”retoriska svar”, varierar och formas av det etablerade partiets val av strategi, hotet från RRP, samt i vilken utsträckning den radikala högern och det största rivaliserande blocket engagerar sig i RRP:s viktigaste fråga, dvs. invandring. I första artikeln, i denna avhandling, tillämpas en sentimentanalys på tal i den svenska riksdagen. Vi finner att riksdagsledamöter från svenska etablerade partier använder ett mer negativt språkbruk när de vänder sig till Sverigedemokraterna (SD) jämfört med när de vänder sig till andra etablerade partier. Vidare visar vi att negativiteten har minskat över tid, särskilt bland de borgerliga riksdagsledamöterna. Artikel nummer två visar att det finns en skillnad i negativitetsnivåerna mellan lagstiftare från mitten-vänster- och mitten-högerblocken. Specifikt kan man observera en mindre antagonistisk ton i talen från borgerliga lagstiftare som representerar valdistrikt där SD:s röstandel har ökat i förhållande till deras eget parti. I den fjärde artikeln visar resultaten att invandringens framträdande roll i de etablerade partiernas tal är positivt förknippad med RRP:s valresultat och uppmärksamhet på frågan, men även betoning av invandringsfrågan från ett rivaliserande block. I den tredje artikeln undersöker jag hur den negativa inställningen till SD som uttrycks i riksdagens påverkar partisympatisörers affektiva polarisering gentemot RRP. Genom att kombinera SOM-institutets data från enkätundersökning med data från tal i riksdagen finner jag att partisympatisörers affektiva polarisering gentemot SD ökar när deras eget partis retorik gentemot RRP blir mer negativ, och att detta förhållande förblir robust även när man tar hänsyn till konventionella variabler för affektiv polarisering. Sammantaget tyder resultaten i denna avhandling på att partiernas respons på RRP går längre än ändrade ståndpunkter under valrörelsen. Ännu viktigare är att avhandlingen identifierar de förhållanden under vilka politiker från etablerade partier är mest benägna att anpassa sina retoriska svar till RRP. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Associate Professor Hjorth, Frederik, University of Copenhagen
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
radical right parties, mainstream parties, legislative debates, computational text analysis, affective polarization
pages
255 pages
publisher
Lund University (Media-Tryck)
defense location
Edens hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund
defense date
2025-04-25 10:00:00
ISBN
978-91-8104-423-2
978-91-8104-424-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7943a418-d933-49ec-bb9a-5ae66f8e1b15
date added to LUP
2025-03-27 15:22:33
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:11:43
@phdthesis{7943a418-d933-49ec-bb9a-5ae66f8e1b15,
  abstract     = {{With their increasing electoral success, radical right (populist) parties (RRPs) are consolidating their presence in many western democracies. It is well-documented that mainstream parties alter policy positions and issue salience during elections to meet the RRP challenge, yet how these strategies unfold in parliament remains an area to be explored. In this dissertation, I focus on two attributes of legislative speeches, namely sentiment and issue attention, which I argue mainstream parties can leverage to compete against RRPs. These attributes, which I refer to as “rhetorical responses”, vary and are shaped by the mainstream party’s choice of strategy, the electoral threat from the RRP, as well as the extent to which the radical right and main rival bloc engage in the RRP’s defining issue, that is immigration. Paper 1 applies sentiment analysis to legislative speeches in the Swedish Riksdag. We find that MPs from Swedish mainstream parties use more negative language when addressing Sweden Democrats (SD) compared to when their speeches are directed at other mainstream parties. Furthermore, we demonstrate that negativity has declined over time, particularly among the center-right MPs. Paper 2 reveals a differentiation in the levels of negativity between legislators from the center-left and center-right blocs. Specifically, I observe a less antagonistic tone in the speeches by center-right legislators who represent electoral districts where SD’s vote share has increased relative to their own party. In Paper 4 I find that immigration’s salience in mainstream party speeches is positively associated with the RRP’s attention to the issue and its electoral performance, as well as with a main rival bloc’s emphasis on immigration. Moreover, in Paper 3, I explore the consequences of the negativity expressed in legislative speeches towards SD on partisans’ affective polarization towards the RRP. By combining the National-SOM survey data with legislative speech data, I find that a partisan’s affective polarization towards SD increases as their in-party’s rhetoric towards the RRP becomes more negative, and that this relationship remains robust even when accounting for conventional predictors of affective polarization. Overall, the findings of this dissertation suggest that party responses towards the RRP go beyond merely altering policy positions during elections. More importantly, they identify the conditions under which politicians of mainstream parties are most likely to adjust their rhetorical responses towards the RRP.}},
  author       = {{Calvo, Esther}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-8104-423-2}},
  keywords     = {{radical right parties; mainstream parties; legislative debates; computational text analysis; affective polarization}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Lund University (Media-Tryck)}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Old Foe, New Friend? : Rhetorical responses of mainstream parties towards a radical right party}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/212482182/Thesis_Esther_Calvo_LUCRIS.pdf}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}