From the UK Independence party (UKIP) to Reform UK (including under its original name, the Brexit party), Nigel Farage and his successive political parties have been major agents of disruption of the British political order. This is an inherent part of their nature as populist parties, aiming to lead an anti-establishment revolt and uproot the status quo. This is reinforced by what Moffitt describes as another core feature of contemporary populism, “the performance of crisis”, which refers to populist actors' ability to inject and propagate a sense of crisis and urgency in their message, allowing them to pit the people against the elite. This performance of crisis is key to justifying the disruption they advocate. This presentation will focus on Reform UK, exploring the party’s instrumentalisation of crisis as a pivotal element of its disruptive approach. The analysis will be based on a study of the party’s discourse and communication strategy, particularly its use of social media. The aim is to examine how these strategies operate and assess their impact on the British political stage.

Lien vers le Séminaire Enjeux du monde contemporain : le Monde anglophone : ici