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Articles on Political rhetoric

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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley greets supporters on Jan. 3, 2024, at a bar in Londonderry, N.H. Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Women presidential candidates like Nikki Haley are more likely to change their positions to reach voters − but this doesn’t necessarily pay off

Nikki Haley is the latest American female politician to shift her language, depending on whom she is talking to and where. But this tactic has a flip side, prompting criticism of her as inconsistent.
Arizona’s cities and towns have been flooded with signage during the heavily contested 2022 elections. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Why campaigns have a love-hate relationship with their signs

Supporters and volunteers love them. But it’s difficult for political scientists to determine whether they even influence the outcome of elections, since no two campaigns or election cycles are alike.
U.S. banana growers heavily influenced several Central American governments in the early 20th century. George Rinhart/Getty Images

What’s a banana republic? A political scientist explains

The US grows hardly any tropical fruit. So why are politicians and political commentators saying the country is at risk of devolving into a banana republic?
America’s political leaders rushed the nation into war just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, just like ancient Greeks and Romans did in response to similar traumatic events. David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

At the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, ancient Greece and Rome can tell us a lot about the links between collective trauma and going to war

Ancient Athenians and Romans also let shared mass tragedies propel justifications for going to war – even when it wasn’t clear what that violence would solve.
Surrounded by army cadets, U.S. President Donald Trump watches the first half of the 121st Army-Navy Football Game at the United States Military Academy in New York City on Dec. 12, 2020. (Shutterstock)

From biblical times to Trump, false messiahs have doomed societies

The messianic language used in relationship to Donald Trump and QAnon conspiracy theories have their roots in Christian expectations of messianic deliverance.
With the American flag reflected in the teleprompter, President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Duluth International Airport on Sept. 30, 2020, in Duluth, Minn. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Why Donald Trump’s words work, and what to do about it

Because dramatic tension fuels attention, Trump’s words work to generate tension, anxiety and conflict. We need to react with civility, care and calm to undo the cycle of attention and persuasion.
Both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump have been accused of using hate speech. AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

When politicians use hate speech, political violence increases

My research shows that when politicians use hate speech, it’s not just empty rhetoric or political theater: Domestic terrorism increases, in the US and in other countries.

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