Constructing Representation: A Comparative Analysis of Political Actors' Claims on Facebook During European and National Election Campaign

In line with the constructivist approach, political representation arises from the communication process between political actors and citizens when political actors present claims regarding the objects and subjects of representation. Social media platforms, particularly Facebook, with its vast and diverse user base, play a pivotal role in this process, as they allow political actors to make claims without the mediation of journalistic filters. This study examines how political leaders construct political representation in different types of elections—national and European. According to the constructivist approach, the substantive content of the representational link is shaped by the claims made by political actors. Therefore, it is essential to understand the foundations of representation as defined by these claims—whether it is based on policy visions, personal leadership qualities, direct connections, social groups, the notion of a homogeneous ‘people,’ or the rejection of other actors or groups. In this spirit, we distinguish six elements of representative claim-making on these platforms: (a) claims connected to policy activities and programs, (b) claims about the leader’s personality, (c) direct engagement with ordinary citizens, (d) claims regarding specific social groups, (e) claims depicting “the people” as a homogeneous entity, and (f) claims focusing on antagonisms (representing negative feelings). We hypothesize that the content of political representation articulated by political actors varies across (a) countries, (b) types of elections, and (c) political ideologies, resulting in different forms of representation emerging in distinct national contexts, electoral spheres, and among various political actors. We will classify party leaders and Spitzenkandidaten based on the degree to which these representation strategies characterize their campaign communication on Facebook during the final four weeks of their respective election campaigns. Our focus will be on understanding how differences in representation strategies can be explained by country, election type, and ideology. To achieve this, we draw upon a manual content analysis in 12 European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Sweden), covering the Facebook activity of parties’ Spitzenkandidaten in the 2024 European election and the national election campaigns of party leaders between 2021 and 2024.