Suchergebnisse

The rise in populism across European Union Member States has led to varying degrees of polarization regarding who fits into the populist box. Contention around the definition and practice of populism leaves the conversation void. Through the input of previous populist measuring surveys this paper developed a new survey to measure the degree of populist attitudes in Spain's academic elites. This survey was sent out to over 10,000 Spanish professors and received over 1,500 responses. Through this data, this paper approaches populism through a new perspective. The connection to populism with the general, often lower class citizens is refuted through displaying the prominence of populist desires in some of Spain's most highly educated and financially secure elite. Faculty Mentor: Andrea Wagner Department: Political Science (Honours)

The politics of polarization are intensified in secessionist movements wherein ones culture and identity is questioned; Catalonia is no exception. The drive for independence from Spain has produced divisions between citizens who support or oppose the movement, regardless of their locality. Polarization within the political and academic spheres has only amplified the divergent positions, resulting in echo chambers of stagnant contention and limited opportunities for impactful dialogue. This paper adopts a parallel data collection approach, relying on the elite interviews and political claim analysis to establish the inducement on both sides. We propose an innovative approach to the Catalan crisis through a top-down process via the medias framing and problem definitions. The first section provides an in-depth review and organization of previous literature in order to identify the medias role in framing the issue, the motivations of independence, the position of elites, and the role of the European Union (EU). The second section develops the methodological framework for this project: the elite interviews and political claim coding. The third section cross-analyzes the data sets to rationalize whether the medias framing of the issue has indeed impacted citizens' perceptions and deepened polarization. Finally, the last section establishes a theoretical framework to examine the academic, social and political implications our findings will have moving forward, specifically focusing on the continued role of the media in framing such prevalent issues. Faculty Mentor: Andrea Wagner Department: Political Science (Honours)

AbstractDespite the new political leaderships, Catalonia has continued to be deadlocked since the failed independence movement. As the Catalan separatists' trials are underway, the paper tries to probe highly educated Spanish citizens' perception of the Catalan independence movement as well as their views on the role of the European Union's involvement in the crisis. We find that the pro‐unity Spaniards who did not desire an EU intervention were the least Eurosceptic while those who supported an independent Catalonia and demanded an EU crisis intervention displayed higher levels of Euroscepticism. We also discover that the sample displaying the highest level of Euroscepticism was composed of pro‐secessionist supporters who had a neutral stance on the EU's crisis involvement.