For the many, not the few - An idea analysis on populism in speeches by leaders of the Labour Party at party conferences 1998-2018

Sammanfattning: Through an idea analysis that utilizes an ideal type of populism, this study seeks to find out how the use of populist ideas has changed over time in conference speeches by four consecutive Labour Party leaders between the years 1998 and 2018. The method for this idea analysis is based on Göran Bergström’s and Per-Anders Svärd’s theories on an ideal type-based idea analysis. The theoretical framework that forms the foundation for this thesis’ ideal type builds among others on theories on populism by Jan-Werner Müller and Benjamin Moffitt. The findings in this study show that the use of populist ideas by Labour leaders has not significantly increased over time. The study has also found that a populistic style has been used regularly by all the leaders in most of their speeches during the last two decades. Another finding is that the populist ideas present in leader’s conference speeches have changed significantly in the last decade to include a more populist message related to the economy.