Political Catchphrases: Approaches via data analysis and online media

Emyn ‘Em’ Dean, May 2023

This report was commissioned by the LLP Research Group, The Open University, to inform discussions during the Workshop on Political Catchwords in Our Times, London, June 2023.

While much of social media is readily accessible to researchers, some is not. And while there are established data science methodologies for handling political data, techniques applicable to political catchphrases, such as natural language processing and knowledge graphs, are still in a nascent form. This report attempts to take stock of the progress to date, illustrate the context of this inquiry, and present some ideas and opportunities to researchers who may have an interest in this topic.

Download the report

English Political Catchwords: A Discussion website

This website presents essays on political catchwords and catchphrases in English which are current now, predominantly from a British perspective.

• The 'Introduction' explains what ‘political catchwords’ means here
• 'The Precariat' by Tommy Sissons (7 August 2023)
• The 'Cost of Living Crisis' by Suman Gupta (13 August 2023)
• ‘Stop the …’ slogans by Philip Seargeant (5 September 2023)
• ‘Neoliberalism’: The Journalistic Tradition by Suman Gupta (11 September 2023)
• ‘Neoliberalism’: A Short & Complete Explanation by Suman Gupta (20 September 2023)
• ‘White Working Class’ by Tommy Sissons (29 September 2023)
• ‘Unelected’ by Suman Gupta (16 October 2023)
• ‘The Red Wall’ by Tommy Sissons (24 October 2023)
• ‘A nation without borders …’: Aphorisms by Philip Seargeant (29 October 2023)
• The ‘__ War’ and ‘Operation __’ by Suman Gupta (2 November 2023)
• ‘Trigger Warnings’, Part 1 by Edmund G.C. King (7 November 2023)
• ‘Trigger Warnings’, Part 2 by Edmund G.C. King (12 November 2023)
• ‘Levelling Up’ by Tommy Sissons (17 November 2023)
• ‘Ceasefire’ and ‘humanitarian pauses’ by Suman Gupta (20 November 2023)
• ‘Save __’ Slogans in Environmental Advocacy by Tao Papaioannou (24 November 2023)
• ‘International Law’: Legalistic Wartime Catchwords 1 by Suman Gupta (12 December 2023)
• ‘Right to self-defence’ and ‘Proportionality’: Legalistic Wartime Catchwords 2 by Suman Gupta (19 December 2023)
• ‘Public Order’/Disorder by Tommy Sissons (1 January 2024)
• On ‘War’, ‘Conflict’, ‘Right to Self-defense’, ‘Proportionality’ by Tahrir Hamdi (4 January 2024)
• ‘Culture War’ Part 1 by Brian Alleyne (10 January 2024)
• ‘Decolonisation’ by David Johnson (22 January 2024)