Double differentiation in a cross-national comparison of populist political movements and online media uses in the United States and the Netherlands

In a context of highly visible and politically influential populist movements, this study considers the online self-representation of the Tea Party Patriots (TPP) in the United States and the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands. A multi-methodological approach was adopted to compare the discursive manifestation of key populism concepts: leadership characteristics, adversary definition, and mobilizing information. Analyses reconstruct and account for similarities and differences in discursive framing strategies of 'double differentiation' (Kriesi, 2011) through which both movements attempt inclusion in and exclusion from the political establishment, and, in so doing, mobilize communities of support. Altogether, this study advances the understanding of what constitutes 'unmediated' content that is presented through user-generated media production, and how self-determined media spaces have facilitated shifts in populist media legitimation and political representation in two politically unique countries.national comparative politics This study examines political populism and online media uses as two interdependent trends that are central features in rapidly evolving socio-political landscapes. While both of these trends have been developing for decades (Bos, van der Brug, and de Vreese, 2010), the shift from traditional models of top-down broadcast media towards many-to-many networks of media production and distribution has noticeably altered political organization and campaigning (Gibson and Römmele, 2007). Similarly, and perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, differing forms of political populism have increased in presence and influence in numerous countries around the world (Zaslove, 2008). Though the concept of political populism and Internet use has a long history (Bimber, 1998) and others have explored populism more generally within a globalization framework (Kriesi et al., 2006), relatively few studies have jointly examined populist political movements and their self-representation in media. Among those, there has been a tendency towards examining traditional mass media outlets such as newspapers (Bos, van der Brug, and de Vreese, 2010; Koopmans and Muis, 2009) or non-partisan online entities (Hooghe and Teepe, 2007). While a good amount of research has examined candidate websites (see Druckman, Kifer, and Parkin, 2007), there has been little explicit attention to populist candidates and parties on the Internet, and none have bridged these parties with their uses in social networking sites. This study fills a gap in that exists in the literature by exploring these media uses as performances of double differentiation (Kriesi, 2011) and then comparing two prominent populist political movements cross-nationally. The dialog constructed by and within each of the parties is examined, thereby linking the processes of leadership, …