PhD Projects
The school has a vibrant postgraduate research community, and we have listed some of the inspiring and insightful PhD projects being undertaken, arranged by research theme.
Comparative politics
Supervisors: J Sullivan; G Khan; started Oct 2020
New Normal, New Propaganda: Demystifying China’s Digital Propaganda under Xi Jinping Administration
Propaganda is normally understood as the dissemination of information, through words, signs and symbols to influence beliefs or behaviours. It has conceptual overlaps with public relations, public diplomacy and other forms of political communications in general. A critical perspective could address the conceptual confusion by taking propaganda messages as discourse, which reveals the socio-political dynamics and power relations lying behind.
The proposed project takes such a critical perspective and focuses on digital propaganda of People’s Republic of China (PRC) under Xi Jinping administration, with particular attention paid to materials promoting nationalism, boosting regime legitimacy and building up President Xi’s personal prestige.
Combing the approaches of virtual ethnography and discourse analysis, the empirical study collects and analyses a variety of data including both textual and visual materials from various social media platforms. It also uses participant observation and semi-structured interviews with key-stakeholders involved in the production, dissemination and consumption of propaganda messages.
This project aims to illustrate the expressive forms of China’s digital propaganda and the way an array of different actors receives, processes and reacts to this stimulus within the broader context of [co/re]-production, dissemination and consumption of propaganda. Connecting to a broader literature of political communication and “authoritarian resilience” (Nathan 2003), the proposed project also stands as a rare attempt to apply discourse analysis to the PRC’s cybersphere in combination with an immersive virtual ethnography research approach.
Currently (May 2021), Weixiang is systematically reviewing works on ideology, discourse, propaganda and political communications in general, Weixiang hopes to connect two branches of propaganda literature which represent different epistemological positions: critical theories, especially works on ideology and discourse, and the (American) empiricism, especially works on media and mass communication. In terms of theoretical framework, Weixiang has made some initial steps to combine Michell Foucault and Jacques Ellul’s work to produce a new framework on propaganda.
As the nature of this project deals with the broader context of internet and (social)media of China, Weixiang has been actively working on several collaborative papers through which he hopes not only to enrich the empirical “meat” of the PhD project but also to contribute to the wider discussions about China’s internet, media and the related (sub)cultures. The projects include:
- Chinese media’s coverage of BLM
- Chinese state’s disciplinary mechanism on traditional (TV and movie) celebrities and internet celebrities (wanghong)
- Chinese cadres’ engagement with livestreaming E-commerce
- A Chinese perspective on diplomatic parlances “wolf warrior” (zhan lang) and “insulting China” (ru hua)
Supervisors: B Renz, C Spary; started Oct 2019
Political Image-making and post-Soviet Patriarchal Leadership: A Comparative Analysis of Belarus, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan
Ruta's study explores the interaction between hegemonic masculinity, nationalism, symbolic representation and political image-making in the post-Soviet space. For that she chose to juxtapose three case studies of post-Soviet presidents - Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenka ‘Batka’, former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev ‘Papa’, and now deceased Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov - ‘Turkmenbashi’- arguably some of the most patriarchal leaders of the post-Soviet sphere.
Despite the turn towards the study of men and masculinities within the gender and politics literature, there is very little conceptual work on the link between hegemonic masculinity in the practises of political image-making and symbolic representation or empirical analysis of these specific patriarchal leaders. Hence, the research has three key aims:
- To explore political leadership in post-Soviet spaces, which are still relatively terra incognita
- To theorise how hegemonic masculinity can help us understand post-soviet leadership
- To analyse the ways in which visual imagery relates to symbolic representation.
I am currently moving into the practical stage of my research. Ruta has already completed three substantial chapters that shall serve as both - the literature review and the theoretical part of my thesis. The practical stage of her research will consist of analysis of the visual and non-visual imagery of the three regimes, study of surveys that hold data related to the topics such as gender and political leadership or gender hierarchies and the society in relation to the three case studies. Her methods also include semi-structured interviews with individuals who could provide valuable insights on the topics including the dynamics and particularities of the three leaders’ political image - making methods, symbolic representation and gender as well as gender dynamics and equality in the three case study countries.
The thesis and articles produced as a result of this research shall provide conclusions that will be of interest to those studying subjects such as authoritarianism, cult of personality, post-Soviet studies, gender and politics, feminism, masculinities, politics and art, LGBTQ+ studies as well as gender and visual representation.
Supervisors: C Milazzo and H Williams; started Oct 2018
Populism Rising: On the Growing Importance of Populism in 21st Century Britain
Focusing upon 21st century UK politics, this research examines the rising phenomenon of populism. As the UK has seen a rise in electoral support for populists, highlighting the need for citizens to "take back control", the time is ripe to interrogate this form of politics. This project seeks to address the evolution of British populism from its beginnings on the fringe to expanding to the mainstream of British politics. It examines whether its rhetoric can present itself as the solution to future issues. Ultimately, can populism present a serious challenge to the British political system?
The research is comparative in nature, focusing upon the extent to which the two major British political parties, The Conservatives and Labour adopt populism, alongside the established British populist party of UKIP. These parties' General Election discourse is analysed over the three most recent elections (2015, 2017 and 2019) to build a comprehensive picture of the extent to which populism has penetrated the British political mainstream.
The findings indicate that the Conservative party is considerably less populist than both Labour and UKIP. Despite all parties sharing a demotic (people-centred appeals) approach, the Conservatives do not substantiate elite critique as a foundation of their appeal. However, following the growing hype of populism, this study discovers that populist rhetoric has grown across recent elections, with figures such as Corbyn entrenching a deep populist divide through his “for the many not the few” discursive divide.
Ultimately the study finds that populism appears influenced by a leader, yet no substantive shift from populism to non-populism (or vice-versa) is found intra-party. Further, there seems to be much support for the growing importance of populist rhetoric, especially as parties shift their focus from class-based to broad people-based articulation.
The research is primarily qualitative in approach, building a comprehensive understanding of populism in the UK from a variety of sources. The focus of the case studies will be via interpretive political discourse analysis as an effective form of argument. The sources include party manifestos, election broadcasts, televised debates, and social media from those embroiled in British populism’s growth. Social media offers an important platform for populist figures to connect with the public through the use of simple language to clean up the messiness of politics, more so than through the traditional media. Social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram offer researchers a unique insight into citizens' reactions to events and the rhetoric expressed by the populist movements espousing the bifurcation of British politics will be explored.