Political communication through party channels: a content analysis of Estonian political parties' communication during the European refugee crisis 2015-2016

Abstract

The refugee crisis that used to concern some European countries turned into a pan-European problem when the EU agreed that all member states should accept and take care of some refugees. In April 2015, Estonia was confronted with this reality and its political elite, organised in six different parties that are represented in the national parliament, started to discuss the issue at hand. This thesis employs a quantitative content analysis in order to map out the positions of the different parties, along with their argumentative style, general attitude towards refugees, and main topics that were connected with the refugee question. The different positions are also compared across two different platforms, first the respective party webpage, second the parliament faction section. The second aim of this thesis is to examine how the different parties would adjust their discourse according to internal and external events that happened between April 2015 and March 2016. Finally, there is a discussion on the validity of the party press release as an individual type of media. This model will then be juxtaposed to Hallin’s spheres in order to find out whether the old paradigm still has some validity in the modern, interconnected world. Keywords: Estonia, Refugee Crisis, Quantitative Content Analysis, Political Communication