Political image of the world in the election poster in Serbia from 1990 to 2017

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify the elements of the political image of the world that the electoral actors in Serbia have been trying to develop through mass political communication from the re-establishment of the multiparty system to the present day. The author of the paper decided to accomplish the given goal by examining the application of basic psychological mechanisms of forming and maintaining the image of the world in crea-tion of electoral posters. The research was approached from the point of social psychology us-ing a constructivist approach. The basic method used in the research is a qualitative content analysis. The selection of posters was preceded by the determination of the so-called situation context factors -the socio-political circumstances in which the posters were created, which is related to the character of the basic method of research. Election campaigns, understood as the final stage in the long-term strategy of the propaganda performances of political ac-tors, were taken as the basic contextual framework for the interpretationof what the com-municator sought to say through the posters. The analysis of the posters used in the election campaigns run in 1997, 2000 and 2016 was carried out. The results of the analysis showed that, regarding the application of psychological mechanisms in creation of the "image of the world," the election poster in Serbia is complex. The conclusion is that the political "image of the world" of voters in Serbia created during the 1990s is similar to their current view of the political environment and that its basic characteristics are the identification with the state and pronounced stereotype of a strong leader.

Osnovni cilj u radu je da se identifikuju elementi političke slike sveta koju su izborni akteri u Srbiji nastojali da razviju kod građana od ponovnog uspo-stavljanja višestranačja do danas posredstvom masovne političke komunikacije. Autor rada opredelio se da realizuje zadati cilj ispitujući primenu osnovnih mehanizama realizacije strategije formiranja i održavanja "slike sveta" u kreiranju izbornih plakata. Istraživanju se pristupilo iz ugla socijalne psihologije primenom konstruktivističkog pristupa. Osnovna metoda primenjena u istraživanju je kvalitativna analiza sadržaja. Izboru konkretnih analiziranih plakata prethodilo je utvrđivanje činilaca tzv. kontek-sta situacije-društveno-političkih okolnosti u kojima su plakati kreirani što je u vezi sa karakterom osnovne metode istraživanja. Za osnovni kontekstualni okvir u tumače-nju onoga što je komunikator nastojao da kaže posredstvom plakata, uzete su izborne kampanje shvaćene kao krajnja faza u dugoročnoj strategiji propagandnog nastupa političkih subjekata. Izvršena je analiza plakata korišćenih u izbornim kampanjama iz 1997, 2000. i 2016. godine. Rezultati analize pokazali su da je, u pogledu primene psiholoških mehanizama kreiranja slike sveta, izborni plakat u Srbiji kompleksan. Za-ključak je i da je politička "slika sveta" birača u Srbiji iz devedesetih godina prošloga veka slična njegovoj aktuelnoj predstavi o političkom okruženju i da su njena osnovna karakteristika identifikacija sa državnom zajednicom i izražen stereotip o jakom lideru.