Hate speech, threats and harassment against elected politicians and potential candidates pose a serious challenge to Norwegian democracy. This project addresses two key knowledge gaps regarding the conditions for Norwegian local politicians. First, we investigate the extent to which municipalities, counties, and party organizations have established, and follow up, on routines, measures and support schemes regarding harassment and threats against local politicians, and what impact this has in practice. Second, we investigate how hate speech, threats and harassment are expressed in a local election campaign: who is affected, who is behind it, which channels are used, what escalates the tone of a debate, and which consequences do local politicians and local parties and lists experience.
The purpose of the project is to provide updated knowledge and develop evidence-based recommendations for the prevention and handling of hate, threats and harassment, with the aim of strengthening democratic participation and institutional preparedness ahead of the local elections in 2027 and in subsequent elections.
The overall project consists of two empirical parts.
Part 1 on routines, measures and support schemes consists of two work packages: A quantitative one that provides a systematic overview of which routines and measures exist and how they are assessed in practice through two online surveys (one for municipalities and counties, and one for municipal parties and local lists) and a qualitative one that involves interviews with the national party representatives and with local politicians who have personal experience with, for example, threats. The results will be published in 2027.
Part 2 on prevalence, consequences and dynamics also consists of two work packages: A survey following the 2027 local elections among all sitting local politicians that will map experiences, vulnerability and consequences, and allow comparisons with previous surveys. In addition, actual posts and interaction patterns in comment fields on selected social media and local newspapers are analyzed with the aim of identifying mechanisms that can escalate or dampen the level of conflict in a debate. The results will be published in 2028.
