"The POLSTYLE project is studying the emergence of new political styles and, in particular, a 'Trumpian' style: a way of doing politics characterised by often vicious attacks on opponents, including outrage and insults. It is also a style strongly imbued with negative emotions (fear, dread or anxiety). This "conflict-emotional" style is worrying. For some colleagues, the spread of a Trumpian style would lead to nothing less than the erosion of our democracies, or even their death. And this fear is not limited to the USA: it can be found in our European democracies with the growing success of populist leaders and those who imitate their styles", comments the researcher.
"While I share these concerns, I take the opposite view of the literature in the POLSTYLE project on two levels. Firstly, the idea that this conflictual-emotional style is new remains largely unproven: debates in the 1970s or 1980s could already be terribly violent. The aim of my project is precisely to go beyond anecdotes and make a detailed inventory of the evolution of political styles since the 1960s. The POLSTYLE project will therefore study political style in 4 political arenas (televised debates, newspaper interviews, parliamentary debates and social networks) in 4 European democracies (Germany, Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom). I am interested in understanding how political styles have evolved in our democracies, and in explaining their variability over time and in different political and institutional contexts. Secondly, this wealth of empirical evidence will enable me to question the theoretical dangers posed by political styles for our democracies. The problem is not so much passion and conflict in politics, but to what end? If they are expressed around the 'major orientations' of society, it is a necessary evil; if they are expressed around 'petty personal disputes', we are dragging our democracies down", explains the researcher.
The ERC POLSTYLE starting grant will enable Jérémy Dodeigne to develop a specialized, multidisciplinary team within the Transitions research institute, combining skills in history, computer science and political science. The first step will be to develop collaborations and partnerships with the various archive centers in the 4 countries studied, so as to be able to access their data and make detailed inventories of the evolution of political styles over time.
"To obtain an ERC, you have to think differently about the project and push back the boundaries of the discipline. This project is the result of the work of an entire team at the University of Namur, from setting up the project to obtaining the ERC", says Jérémy Dodeigne.
Congratulations to him!
This project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 101078226).
It's not often that two researchers from the same institution (and the same institute!) are awarded such prestigious funding.
This ERC Starting Grant for the POLYSTYLE project and that of Vincent Jacquet for his CITIZEN_IMPACT project will thus enable the emergence and development of a genuine centre of excellence in Political Science within UNamur's Transitions Institute.
