Over the last decade, nationalist populist parties and movements have been growing in strength across Europe, and an increasing amount of their activity takes place online. In 2011, Demos conducted a survey of over 13,000 Facebook supporters of populist parties in 12 European countries in order to better understand who these “digital populists” are, what they think, and how their online behavior maps onto what they do in the real world. At this event, Demos will launch the fourth in a series of country-specific papers, focusing on the Netherlands and Facebook fans of the PVV (the Party for Freedom).
Demos collected responses from over 300 fans of the party, and will present brand new data on who these people are, what motivates and concerns them, and how they use social media. This will be followed by an open panel debate with audience interaction examining the way social media is changing politics and political activism in the Netherlands and Europe, and what this means for mainstream and fringe parties.
With Jamie Bartlett (researcher at Demos, specialist in various radical movements, populism and social media) and Sarah de Lange (Assistant Professor of Qualitative Methodology in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam).