Security in Exchange for Support: Immigration Narratives and the Populist “Social Contract” on Social Media Across Europe

Right-wing populists in Europe increasingly rely on social media platforms to frame immigration as a source of insecurity and political conflict. The presentation examines how right-wing populist leaders in Europe structure their social media communication on immigration through a recurring, sequential discursive logic. Drawing on multiple theoretical frameworks from populism studies, political communication, and social psychology, the analysis studies the online discourse of nine charismatic leaders from major right-wing populist parties in Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The study found that leaders use social media to construct a populist identity by invoking a morally homogeneous “people” (the in-group) opposed to distant elites and external threats (the out-group). This process serves to establish emotional proximity between the leader and the people and frames political conflict in moral (and emotional) rather than institutional terms. Once a shared identity is established, the three steps of the “social contract” process take place. First, immigration is represented as a direct threat to citizens’ physical safety, economic stability, and cultural cohesion, contributing to raising a sense of insecurity and urgency. Second, blame for this insecure condition is explicitly assigned to identifiable actors—most frequently incumbent governments, left-wing parties, or supranational institutions. Finally, communication ends by proposing a solution that takes the form of an implicit political exchange. Right-wing populist leaders present electoral support as the necessary condition for restoring security, reestablishing social order, and reclaiming national sovereignty. Voting thus becomes the final step in a narrative chain that transforms fear and grievance into political mobilisation. The research draws on multiple theoretical perspectives to demonstrate the existence of a communicative narrative that proposes a “social contract” between the leader and the people, while simultaneously reshaping and eroding democracy and civil rights in contemporary European politics.