Diana Petkova
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2024-03S-06
Abstract. Populism in public communication has revived during the global economic and political crises. It is embedded in both right wing and left wing political ideologies. During the pandemic of Covid-19 the populist discourses have been tightly intertwined with rumors and conspiracy theories. This paper outlines the possibilities of populism to create and generate “otherness” by distancing and even stigmatizing all the „different“ who do not support its discourses. Thus, populism often generates hate speech that leads to the radicalization of social and political groups in times of crisis. One of the main hypotheses of this paper is that populism in Eastern Europe and especially in Bulgaria is supported by cultural reasons. The analysis shows that societies and groups that had been under authoritarian regimes are more prone to believe in populist theories and may show a lack of trust in official institutions and authorities, including in the media.
Keywords: populist discourses, political fragmentation, hate speech
