Rafter Kevin

Ritchie Nathan

Vaccari Cristian

Wring Dominic

English

University of Szeged

23. Panel 2023. május 26. –  09.00–10.45 European Elections Monitoring Center: Introduction, … JK 209. terem  155 NATHAN RITCHIE* – DOMINIC WRING* – KEVIN RAFTER** – CRISTIAN VACCARI*** *Loughborough University UK **Loughborough University UK **Dublin City University, Ireland ***Loughborough University UK A Gulf Across the Irish Sea? The European Election Campaigns in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland This paper identifies and examines the different circumstances and experiences of the UK and Republic of Ireland from the vantage points of the campaign communications of the major parties that contested the EU election of 2019. The previous decade had witnessed the acceleration of demands for another referendum on British membership which was eventually held in 2016 and resulted in a narrow victory for Brexit (Jackson et al., 2016). The UK’s choice to leave the EU required a withdrawal agreement that would secure an orderly exit. However, because the negotiations between the European Union and the British government, led at the time by Conservative leader Theresa May, had not been concluded yet, the UK was obliged to participate in the EU elections on account of its continuing membership.  For Ireland, the 2019 vote took place in very different circumstances, after the country’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar had enjoyed productive discussions with his European counterparts to jointly prepare for whatever form of Brexit emerged. The Irish economy was seen as being in a particularly difficult situation due to the country sharing the only EU land border with the UK, as was attested to by the protracted wrangling over the so-called ‘backstop’—a set of measures, later abandoned, designed to prevent a evident border with customs controls between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit. It remained to be seen if and how this, together with other Brexit related concerns, might spill over and inform the campaign in Ireland as well as what ultimately turned into Britain’s electoral swansong as a participating member state.   23. Panel 2023. május 26. –  09.00–10.45 European Elections Monitoring Center: Introduction, … JK 209. terem  156 This paper examines the British and Irish experiences of the 2019 election through analysing the content of their respective main parties’ Facebook posts. Central to the study is consideration of the extent to which the two member states’ campaigns diverged in terms of the issues addressed and the approaches taken. The British parties had a particularly challenging task in defining strategies for an election they had not expected to have to contest, and which was only confirmed once the campaign was well underway in every other member state including Ireland. Aside from differences in the forms of advertising, consideration will be given to the personalized dimension to the respective campaigns, their gendered nature, the presence of negativity, and the relative prominence of salient topics like the economy, environment and Brexit.    

A gulf across the Irish sea? : the European election campaigns in the

United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland : [abstract]

http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/83782/1/mppt_xxviii_vandorgyules_absztrakt_kotet_2023_155-156.pdf

A gulf across the Irish sea? : the European election campaigns in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland : [abstract]

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University of Szeged