Political Coalitions and Social Media: Evidence from Pakistan

Abstract

Social media is frequently an arena of intense competition among major political actors across the world. We argue that a fruitful way of understanding this competition is as coalitions among key actors and their networks of followers. These coalitions can both advance a shared political message and target mutual rivals. Importantly, coalitions can be tacit or explicit, and they do not necessarily depend on direct state manipulation or repression, although they often do. This makes a coalitional framework particularly valuable for studying complex political environments in which online actors blend cooperation and competition. Empirically, we show the value of this approach with novel data collection and analysis of Twitter and Facebook content from 2018–19 in Pakistan, with a focus on the dynamics leading up to and following the controversial 2018 general election. We map out networks of narrative alignment and conflict on Pakistani social media, providing important insights into the relationships among the major political parties, military, media, and dissidents. Future research can fruitfully explore the causes and effects of powerful social media coalitions.

Investigating the Framing of the Tweets of Three Leading Political Parties of Pakistan

“…Existing literature is based on different studies (Mir et al, 2022;Correa et al, 2020;Wanza et al, 2022), which targeted politicians to examine their use of Twitter for political concerns. Silva et al (2022) worked on European parliamentarians and examined how politicians use multiple framing techniques, such as Hashtag, pictures, and words, not just to protect themselves but also against their foes or opponents.…”

Twitter and politics: a framing analysis of Maryam Nawaz and Imran Khan's social media discourse

“…Diou et al (2018) examined the integration of political participation and media, particularly the popularity of social networking sites among the youth in Khairpur district, Sindh, Pakistan, highlighting their active engagement, support for political leaders, and the cost-effectiveness of platforms like Facebook and YouTube in facilitating political participation. Mir et al (2022) have discussed social media coalitions among political actors in Pakistan, and Shafiq (2021) has investigated political hate speech on Twitter, identifying language patterns. Kugelman (2012) has explored the communication aspects of social media in Pakistan, and Masroor et al (2019) have uncovered ideological strategies in the tweets of Pakistani political figures.…”