Research Seminars in Economics: Andrea Tesei (Queen Mary University): Mobile Internet and the Rise of Communitarian Politics in Europe

About the Event

This week the Research Seminars in Economics welcomes Andrea Tesei (Queen Mary University).

If you would like to attend this seminar as a non-King's academic staff member, please contact economics.seminars@kcl.ac.uk.

Abstract: 'Mobile Internet and the Rise of Communitarian Politics in Europe'

We study the political effects of the diffusion of mobile Internet between 2007 and 2017 using administrative data on electoral outcomes and on mobile Internet signal across the 82,094 municipalities of twenty European countries, which we complement with individual survey data on voters’ values and positions.

In line with literature in social psychology claiming that social media promote tribalism, we show that - by fostering voters’ nationalism and dislike of strangers and minorities - access to this technology led to an increase in voters’ support for communitarian parties, priming the insiders at the expenses of the outsiders.

Our estimates suggest that between one third and one half of the remarkable success of communitarian parties, which roughly doubled their support over the period, can be ascribed to enhanced access to mobile Internet technology.