“Long Live Freedom!”Digital Communication of Argentina’s Emerging Libertarian Populism

  1. Raquel Tarullo 1
  2. Vicente Fenoll 1
  1. 1 Universitat de València
    info

    Universitat de València

    Valencia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/043nxc105

Revista:
Trípodos

ISSN: 1138-3305 2340-5007

Año de publicación: 2023

Título del ejemplar: Comunication in search of trust. Journalism, advertising and digital citizenship

Número: 54

Páginas: 94-112

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.51698/TRIPODOS.2023.54.01 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Trípodos

Resumen

Social networks have become the ideal platform for populist leaders to directly engage with their followers, facilitating the dissemination of polarizing narratives. Populist actors have gained electoral momentum in different parts of the world by importing populist content from diverse national contexts. Argentina’s legislative elections in 2021 are a case in point. The main objective of this study is to examine the communication strategy employed by Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist politician, on Instagram during this electoral campaign. Through a quantitative content analysis, we identify the thematic and populist elements present in Milei’s Instagram posts. Our findings reveal a new style of ‘libertarian’ populism, which employs discursive components previously used by populist parties from various ideologies and the strategic alignment of political communication with opportunistic themes and contextual dynamics. Milei focuses on positioning himself as the leader of the electoral campaign, with minimal emphasis on concrete policy proposals. His populist strategy revolves around attacking ideological adversaries (such as communism and feminism) and denouncing the corrupt political ‘caste’. Unlike other rightwing populist politicians, Milei’s discourse does not particularly focus on the issue of immigration.

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