Understanding the Rise of Populism: Attention-Based Political and Communication Strategies on Social Media

Abstract

Attention-based politics refers to the situation where the nature of the struggle for the attention of the public rapidly changes. In this communicative situation, politicians not only compete for attention with other politicians or parties, but also with non-political actors. Research shows that the attentive communicative tools and structural determinants used for spreading populist ideas are just as central as the populist ideas themselves. This panel discusses papers that define and explain maximizing attention strategies implied by individual leaders or parties in order to overcome the resistance or disinterest of traditional media.