The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland
Building on the framework of electoral contention, we investigate the interaction dynamics between social movements and political parties during elections. We argue that social media today is an important venue for these interactions, and consequently, analysing social media data is useful for under...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2021-0003 |
| _version_ | 1818047516595191808 |
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| author | Savolainen Sonja Ylä-Anttila Tuomas |
| author_facet | Savolainen Sonja Ylä-Anttila Tuomas |
| author_sort | Savolainen Sonja |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Building on the framework of electoral contention, we investigate the interaction dynamics between social movements and political parties during elections. We argue that social media today is an important venue for these interactions, and consequently, analysing social media data is useful for understanding the shifts in the conflict and alliance structures between movements and parties. We find that Twitter discussions on the climate change movement during the 2019 electoral period in Finland reveal a process of pre-election approaching and post-election distancing between the movement and parties. The Greens and the Left formed mutually beneficial coalitions with the movement preceding the elections and took distance from one another after these parties entered the government. These findings suggest that research on movement-party interaction should pay more attention to social media and undertake comparative studies to assess whether the approaching-distancing process and its constituent mechanisms characterise movements beyond the climate strikes in Finland. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:07:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ba2640b17ed44ecbd815beeb91138ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2003-184X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:07:02Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ba2640b17ed44ecbd815beeb91138ba2022-12-22T01:53:13ZengSciendoNordic Journal of Media Studies2003-184X2021-07-0131406010.2478/njms-2021-0003The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in FinlandSavolainen Sonja0Ylä-Anttila Tuomas1Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, FinlandFaculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, FinlandBuilding on the framework of electoral contention, we investigate the interaction dynamics between social movements and political parties during elections. We argue that social media today is an important venue for these interactions, and consequently, analysing social media data is useful for understanding the shifts in the conflict and alliance structures between movements and parties. We find that Twitter discussions on the climate change movement during the 2019 electoral period in Finland reveal a process of pre-election approaching and post-election distancing between the movement and parties. The Greens and the Left formed mutually beneficial coalitions with the movement preceding the elections and took distance from one another after these parties entered the government. These findings suggest that research on movement-party interaction should pay more attention to social media and undertake comparative studies to assess whether the approaching-distancing process and its constituent mechanisms characterise movements beyond the climate strikes in Finland.https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2021-0003social movementsclimate movementelectoral contentioncontentious politicssocial media |
| spellingShingle | Savolainen Sonja Ylä-Anttila Tuomas The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland Nordic Journal of Media Studies social movements climate movement electoral contention contentious politics social media |
| title | The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland |
| title_full | The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland |
| title_fullStr | The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland |
| title_full_unstemmed | The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland |
| title_short | The climate change movement and political parties: Mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in Finland |
| title_sort | climate change movement and political parties mechanisms of social media and interaction during the 2019 electoral period in finland |
| topic | social movements climate movement electoral contention contentious politics social media |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2021-0003 |
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