Browsing by Subject "issue alignment"

Political polarization has become a global phenomenon, affecting democratic societies in various ways. In Finland, political issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change have sparked intense debates on social media platforms like Twitter, leading to the formation of seemingly diverse online communities with differing opinions. This study utilizes network analysis to investigate political polarization in Finland by examining issue alignment and levels of polarization regarding Covid-19 and climate change on Twitter. Studying issue alignment as an aspect of political polarization is particularly important, because overlapping polarization in many different political issues has been found to be particularly dangerous for the stability of society. Using a sample of Finnish Twitter users and their interactions between January 2019 and October 2022, this study analyzes the structure of Covid-19 and climate change networks and identifies groups with similar opinions. Normalized mutual information is used to measure issue alignment, while the EI-index is used to measure within-topic polarization. The results suggest that issue alignment between Covid-19 and climate change discussions is not particularly high in Finland. However, within-topic polarization is present with users interacting more with a like-minded in-group than with a dissenting out-group in both topics. This study provides valuable insights into the nature of political polarization in Finland, highlighting the role of social media polarization in shaping public opinion and contributing to interaction patterns. By understanding the mechanisms behind polarization, policymakers and other stakeholders can better address these challenges and promote constructive dialogue on these important issues.