Who Is the Enemy? Political Delegitimization: Definition, ‎Sources, and Analysis

• In Event: Hate Speech: Causes and Reactions

Abstract

Despite the central role of discursive delegitimization in the political debate over ‎‎supremacy, little is ‎known about the processes through which social agents attempt to ‎‎de-establish legitimacy for ‎contested political camps. The use of delegitimization to ‎‎de-establish the legitimacy of the political rival is present even in societies with high ‎‎support for democratic norms. This paper starts by presenting a new conceptualization ‎‎of political ‎‎delegitimization, based on Huddy’s (2001) four factors for identity ‎‎formation. ‎Subsequently, it investigates these processes of political delegitimization ‎‎in the context of the 2019-2022 Israeli political crisis, using a novel ‎computational ‎algorithm ‎that successfully identifies and measures political delegitimization from ‎‎approximately two million Hebrew mass-media articles and social ‎media posts. ‎The ‎paper ‎emphasizes the destructive potential of political delegitimization discourse, ‎which ‎may create a sense of shame and repudiation of‎ political ‎identities. The ‎endpoint of ‎these processes may be the eradication of ‎certain ideas from public ‎discourse and the ‎prevention of any ideological objection – an antithesis to a ‎functioning democracy‎.‎

Author

• Naama Rivlin-Angert, Tel Aviv University