Mimi Mihăilescu
Far-right Romanian presidential candidate George Simion is not just running a campaign, he’s waging a meme war. In today’s digital age, argues Mimi Mihăilescu, the way politicians communicate with the public has fundamentally shifted – and internet memes are emerging as powerful weapons for shaping public perception and discourse. Read more
Andrea Ceron
Analysing posts on Facebook and Twitter-X, Andrea Ceron, Silvia Decadri, and Fedra Negri highlight how Italian politicians use populist rhetoric to generate engagement. They find that such rhetoric does indeed increase the likelihood of posts going viral, even among non-populist voters Read more
Courtney Blackington
Not all conspiracy theories that spread on social media remain popular over time. Courtney Blackington and Frances Cayton argue that conspiracy theories which map onto salient cleavages are more likely to persist and spread online. They find that elites who endorse conspiracy theories do not always attract engagement unless an event occurs that makes those conspiracy theories salient Read more
Dóra Oprics
Dóra Oprics explores the 2X civil society campaign in Hungary in 2022, which resulted in 1.7 million Hungarians successfully invalidating an exclusionary child protection referendum. The outcome reveals insights into the mobilising powers of grassroots activism against attempts to demonise the LGBTQIA+ community Read more
Stefan Wallaschek
Stefan Wallaschek, Kavyanjali Kaushik, Monika VerbalytÄ— and Aleksandra Sojka highlight how gender equality campaigns, especially around International Women's Day, are only effective by adapting their messages to the national contexts. These campaigns must incorporate initiatives that allow more citizens to mobilise and take action Across Europe, progress towards gender equality has met with resistance from […] Read more
Daniel Braby
Identifying the different positions of MPs inside the same political parties is a longstanding problem for political science. Daniel Braby and Marius Sältzer argue that applying automated content analysis to MPs' Twitter timelines offers a robust impression of sub-party positions Read more
The Loop
Cutting-edge analysis showcasing the work of the political science discipline at its best.
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