Shaping the Echo: Populism, Post-truth, and Voter Mobilization - the Case of Serbia

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between the centrist populism mobilization strategy and the culture of post-truth. The focus of analysis is the Serbian case of populism, i.e. the success of the Serbian progressive party and its leader Aleksandar Vučić in mobilizing voters. We explicate the electoral success of the SNS from 2014 to 2020 by analyzing two examples. Firstly, we demonstrate how Vučić uses critically oriented journalists to mobilize voters against (“corrupted”) elites. Secondly, we analyze the case of the Washington agreement, demonstrating how Vučić layers political messages to address different actors and mobilize ideologically diverse voters.