The rapid rise of digital technologies has fundamentally reshaped political communication, providing new opportunities for civic engagement while amplifying risks tied to populist rhetoric, societal polarization, and extremist narratives. Digital platforms, capable of bypassing traditional media gatekeepers, have become powerful tools for political actors to spread messages directly to the public. This environment fosters misinformation, radical ideologies, and emotionally charged content.
Populism amplified by social media has become a defining feature of political systems globally, influencing electoral dynamics, public discourse, and the resilience of democratic institutions in an increasingly post-truth era. This dynamic is closely linked to rising societal polarization, where digital platforms magnify voices of discontent, creating fragmented public spheres and deepening ideological divides. For instance, Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency in 2024 illustrates how populist discourse, spread via social media, capitalizes on societal grievances. His campaign leveraged platforms like Truth Social to bypass traditional media, amplifying grievance politics and narratives around the “stolen election” of 2020, which fueled distrust in democratic institutions. Similarly, Călin Georgescu’s unexpected success in Romania’s 2024 elections highlights how digital disintermediation empowers extremist outsiders. His anti-establishment, nationalist, and Eurosceptic rhetoric resonated with disenfranchised voters through social media, exploiting economic frustrations and societal fears.
This thematic issue invites theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions that explore how digital communication technologies shape contemporary populism and polarization, and what implications this has for democratic resilience. We particularly welcome submissions addressing questions such as:
- How do algorithmic recommendation systems and social media logics amplify populist and polarizing messages?
- In what ways do populist actors use digital disintermediation to circumvent journalistic scrutiny and reach disenfranchised publics?
- What types of narratives are most effectively disseminated through digital platforms?
- How does exposure to emotionally charged or conspiratorial content affect civic trust, political participation, or electoral behavior?
- How do mainstream political actors respond to the digital strategies of populist competitors, and with what success?
- What are the gendered, generational, or socio-economic dimensions of digitally mediated populist mobilization?
