Call for Papers

Cahiers PROTAGORAS n° 15

Political Crisis Communication: Navigating Polycrisis and Post-Pandemic Transformations

Special Issue of Cahiers Protagoras (L’Harmattan) in partnership with the Académie des Controverses et de la Communication Sensible (ACCS)

OVERVIEW

Contemporary political communication is situated within a structurally unstable environment, defined by the acceleration of media cycles and audience fragmentation. In this context of global “polycrisis” – marked by interwoven instabilities and diluted responsibilities (Bencherif, 2025; Zaki et al., 2024; Manfredi-Sánchez & Smith, 2023) – crisis management is no longer an exception but an ordinary pillar of democratic governance (Scammell, 2004; Chen, 2012). The past decade, shaped by terrorist attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic (Hu & Zhong, 2023; Boin et al., 2021), geopolitical crises (Ciot & Ghidiu, 2020), and climate disruptions (Denisova, 2025; Uldam & Askanius, 2022), has highlighted the crucial role of political crisis communication in articulating technical expertise, political authority, and public engagement – especially considering the increasingly central role of emotional and performative registers in times of crisis (Chaussinand, 2023). The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has served as a privileged laboratory, exposing diverse models of crisis leadership (Dacheux & Goujon, 2021; Lilleker et al., 2021; Kahn, 2020) and communication strategies oscillating between personalised power and technocratic decision-making, which in turn underscore the critical positioning of leaders facing ongoing contingencies (Premat, 2024). Moreover, the analysis of political scandals reveals a shift in forms of political vulnerability within a context of hyper-mediated exposure (Gorissen, 2025; Berndt Rasmussen & Olsson Yaouzis, 2020; Chandra & Erlingsdóttir, 2020).

 

Political crisis communication – understood as the set of discursive and symbolic practices enacted by political leaders in the face of urgent, unpredictable, and highly mediatized situations (Hinck & Cooley, 2023) – must now navigate conflicting imperatives: institutional transparency (Fernández-Torres & Chamizo-Sánchez, 2025), narrative coherence (Mahé & Martel, 2023; Manfredi-Sánchez & Smith, 2023), prompt responsiveness (Voina & Stoica, 2023), and adaptation for multiple audiences (Haller & Michael, 2024), particularly in digital spheres. Recent research indicates that the regime of immediacy and virality imposed by digital media negatively impacts the crisis management strategies employed by political actors (Lorenz-Spreen, 2023; Prince & Giasson, 2019). Scholars note increasing polarization, declining trust in democratic institutions and the media, and the rising spread of disinformation (Sato & Wiebrecht, 2024; McCoy et al., 2018).

 

This special issue invites contributions exploring several dimensions of political crisis communication:

 

  • Temporalities and Rhythms: navigating accelerated media, risk culture, and “institutional resilience” (Mahé & Martel, 2023; Bourbeau, 2018).
  • Digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence, and Post-Truth: transformation of balances between information, online affectivity, and political distrust, including the impact of artificial intelligence tools on the production, dissemination and reception of crisis messages (Borowski, 2025; Surjatmodjo et al., 2024; Monnier, 2020).
  • Political Crisis Leadership Models: gendered, cultural, and ideological specificities, including populist actors’ responses to crises (Järviniemi, 2024; Voina & Stoica, 2023; Deswert, 2021).
  • Globalisation of Audiences and Transnational Communicational Arenas: the emergence of globalised public spheres during crises, requiring communication strategies adapted to both local specificities and transnational dynamics of public opinion (Landqvist & Blåsjö, 2024; Nocheva, 2024).
  • Regime Crises and Democratic Resilience: between security firmness and the recognition of citizens’ claims (Febvre-Issaly, 2024; Gillies et al., 2023; Djuve et al., 2020).

We welcome interdisciplinary, bilingual submissions (in French or English) aimed at enriching the understanding of current communication practices and strategies. Proposals may adopt theoretical, empirical, or comparative approaches.

The call can be downloaded in PDF in clicking here.

 

SUBMISSION AND PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES

Les abstracts devront comporter :

Abstract should include : 

– In a separate file: name, professional or academic status, institutional affiliation, contact details of the author(s) (e-mail and postal addresses).

– The title of the paper (maximum 180 characters including spaces).

– A 500-word abstract (excluding references) highlighting the interest of the contribution and including an overview of the problematic.

Proposals for papers may be presented either as reflective analyses based on recent and completed empirical research, or as analyses of professional communication practises.

Proposals (in Word format) must include : 

  1. In a separate file: the name, professional or academic status, institutional affiliation, and contact details of the author(s) (email and postal addresses).
  2. The article must not exceed 30,000 characters (including notes, spaces, and references).
  3. Title of the article (maximum 180 characters including spaces): Times New Roman, size 12, bold, and centered on the page.
  4. The author’s name should be in regular weight, centered on the page, and followed by a footnote reference. The footnote should provide a 2–3 line biographical note about the author.
  5. The text (including headings) must be entirely in Times New Roman, size 12, justified, and without paragraph indentation.
  6. Please refrain from using any stylistic effects: no page breaks, section breaks, or double line breaks…
  7. Line spacing: 1.5.
  8. Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides. Standard page layout.
  9. Document structure: two levels of headings.
  10. Do not number headings or subheadings.
  11. Main section titles: bold, upright, and left-aligned.
  12. Subsection titles: regular weight, italicized, and left-aligned.
  13. Always specify acronyms when first used.
  14. Remove all bullet points: please use complete sentences instead.
  15. Use synonyms as often as possible.
  16. Minimize the number of footnotes.
  17. Remove double (or triple) spaces between words.
  18. Ensure the correct use of non-breaking spaces before (and after) the following punctuation marks: ? ! ; « »
  19. Verify all quotations in the article, as well as the spelling of proper names.
  20. Numbers up to twelve should be written in full; numbers beyond twelve should be in digits.
  21. Centuries should be indicated as follows: 18th century, 19th century…
  22. Quotations of fewer than four lines should be placed within quotation marks and remain in the body of the text.
  23. Quotations longer than four lines should be set off from the main text, indented, and enclosed in quotation marks. They should remain in Times New Roman, size 12.
  24. Bibliographic references should follow the French APA standards (7th edition, 2019), both in the general bibliography and within the text.

ABSTRACT AND PAPER SUBMISSION & REVIEW SCHEDULE

Abstracts must be submitted no later than Sunday, November 9, 2025. The scientific committee will review the abstracts and provide its evaluation by November 17, 2025.

Final proposals are expected by February 1, 2026. They will undergo a double-blind peer review by members of our scientific committee, with feedback provided by March 2, 2026.

If revisions are required, the modified proposals must be submitted by April 12, 2026 at the latest.

The publication of the Cahier is scheduled for June 2026.

Abstracts and final proposals should be sent to baptiste.buidin@galilee.be.

REFERENCES

  • Bencherif, A. (2025). Les polycrises : une nouvelle réalité internationale ? Cahiers de recherche en politique appliquée, 1. 6-13.
  • Berndt Rasmussen, K., & Olsson Yaouzis, N. (2020). MeToo, Social Norms, and Sanctions. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 28(3), 273–295.
  • Boin, A., McConnell, A., & ‘t Hart, P. (2021). Governing the Pandemic: The Politics of Navigating a Mega-Crisis (1st ed.). Springer Nature.
  • Borowski, A. (2025). Malaise and crisis in the algorithmic civilisation. International Review of Applied Economics, 1–18. 
  • Bourbeau, P. (2018). On Resilience: Genealogy, Logics, and World Politics, Cambridge University Press.
  • Chandra, G., & Erlingsdóttir, I. (Eds.). (2020). The Routledge Handbook of the Politics of the #MeToo Movement (1st ed.).
  • Chaussinand, E. (2023). Le « déficit d’empathie » d’Emmanuel Macron ? Quand la presse décrypte les émotions présidentielles… Les langages du politique, 132, 137-148.
  • Chen, N. (2012). Beijing’s Political Crisis Communication: An analysis of Chinese government communication in the 2009 Xinjiang riot. The Journal of Contemporary China, 21(75), 461-479.
  • Ciot, M.-G., & Ghidiu, I. A. (2020). Reconfiguration of Geopolitical Strategies in Trump’s Era: The Impact of American Political Leadership’s Idiosyncrasies on the Traditional Transatlantic Relations. Studia Europejskie, 24(2), 25–42.
  • Dacheux, É., & Goujon, D. (2021). L’après Covid : repenser la démocratie en sortant de la fascination numérique. Droit, Santé et Société, 1(1), 75‑84.
  • Denisova, A. (2025). Effective Climate Communication : Turning Eco-Anxiety into Eco-Action(1st ed. 2025.). Springer Nature Switzerland.
  • Deswert, C. (2021). The Praise for a “Caretaker” Leader: Gendered Press Coverage of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès in a COVID-19 Context. Politics of the Low Countries, 3(2), 186-204.
  • Febvre-Issaly, M. (2024). Crise de régime ? Esprit, Octobre(10), 14-17.
  • Djuve, V. L., Knutsen, C. H., & Wig, T. (2020). Patterns of Regime Breakdown Since the French Revolution. Comparative Political Studies, 53(6), 923–958.
  • Fernández-Torres, M. J., & Chamizo-Sánchez, R. (2025). Qatargate and lobbying crisis in the European Union. Media analysis and regulatory challenges for institutional transparency. Frontiers in Political Science, 7.
  • Gillies, J., Raynauld, V., & Wisniewski, A. (2023). Canada is No Exception: The 2022 Freedom Convoy, Political Entanglement, and Identity-Driven Protest. American Behavioral Scientist, 0(0)
  • Gorissen, S. (2025). The Mainstream News Framing of the Stormy Daniels Scandal: Defending or Denouncing Donald Trump and the Symbolic Annihilation of Stephanie Clifford. Women’s Studies in Communication, 48(1), 98-121.
  • Hinck, R. S., & Cooley, S. C. (2023). Hybrid regimes and narrative legitimacy during economic crises: Resiliency narratives of Egypt’s economic crisis. Global Media and Communication, 19(3), 373-397.
  • Hu, Q., & Zhong, W. (2023). State‐level politicization of crisis communication on Twitter during COVID‐19: Conceptualization, measurement, and impacts. Public Administration Review, 83(5), 1266–1280.
  • Järviniemi, J. (2024). Populist communication during times of crisis across party lines. Nordicom Review, 45(2), 296-319.
  • Kahn, L. (2020). Who’s in charge? Leadership during epidemics, bioterror attacks, and other public health crises. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Security International.
  • Lilleker, D., Coman, I. A., Gregor, M., Novelli, E., & Coman, I. A. (2021). Political Communication and COVID-19: Governance and Rhetoric in Times of Crisis(1st ed., Vol. 1). Routledge.
  • Landqvist, M., & Blåsjö, M. (2024). Collaboration, reinvented tools and specialist knowledge: Communication professionals’ experiences of global health crisis management. Discourse & Communication, 18(4), 514–534.
  • Lorenz-Spreen, P., Oswald, L., Lewandowsky, S., & Hertwig, R. (2023). A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy. Nature Human Behaviour, 7, 74–101.
  • Mahé, A.-L., & Martel, S. (2023). Crisis narratives and institutional resilience: a framework for analysis. Journal of International Relations and Development, 26(3), 505–529.
  • Manfredi-Sánchez, J.-L., & Smith, N. R. (2023). Public diplomacy in an age of perpetual crisis: assessing the EU’s strategic narratives through six crises. Journal of Communication Management, 27(2), 241–258.
  • McCoy, J., Rahman, T., & Somer, M. (2018). Polarization and the Global Crisis of Democracy: Common Patterns, Dynamics, and Pernicious Consequences for Democratic Polities. The American Behavioral Scientist, 62(1), 16–42.
  • Monnier, A. (2020). Covid-19 : de la pandémie à l’infodémie et la chasse aux fake news. Recherches & éducations, Hors-série.
  • Nocheva, N. (2024). Framing Action Through Participatory Theater: What Can We (Mis)understand for Global Crises? Communication Studies, 75(5), 670–688.
  • Premat, C. (2024). Le rôle de l’expertise dans la construction du consensus suédois face à la pandémie. Dans C. Premat, J.-M. De Waele, & M. Perottino (Éds.), Comparing the place of experts during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic (pp. 421-448). Stockholm University Press.
  • Prince, V., & Giasson, T. (2019). Là, tout de suite?: La gestion de crise gouvernementale à l’ère de l’instantanéité médiatique (1st ed.). Presses de l’Université du Québec.
  • Sato, Y., & Wiebrecht, F. (2024). Disinformation and Regime Survival. Political Research Quarterly, 77(3), 1010–1025.
  • Scammell, M. (2004). Crisis? What Crisis? Political Communication in the Blair Era. Political Communication, 21(4), 501-510.
  • Surjatmodjo, D., Unde, A. A., Cangara, H., & Sonni, A. F. (2024). Information Pandemic: A Critical Review of Disinformation Spread on Social Media and Its Implications for State Resilience. Social Sciences, 13(8), 418.
  • Uldam, J., & Askanius, T. (2022). Time for Climate Action? Political Actors’ Uses of Twitter to Focus Public Attention on the Climate Crisis During the 2019 Danish General Election. International Journal of Communication, 16(16), 385-.
  • Voina, A., & Stoica, M. S. (2023). Reframing leadership: Jacinda Ardern’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Media and Communication, 11(1), 1-15.
  • Zaki, B. L., Pattyn, V., & Wayenberg, E. (2024). Policymaking in an age of polycrises: emerging perspectives. Policy Design and Practice, 7(4), 377–389.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

  • François Allard-Huver – ACCS, Université catholique de l’Ouest (UCO), Centre de recherche Humanités et Sociétés (CHUS)
  • Nicolas Baygert – IHECS-Protagoras, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) & Sciences Po Paris
  • Baptiste Buidin – IHECS-Protagoras
  • François Debras – ULiège & Haute Ecole Libre Mosane (HELMo)
  • Thierry Devars – CELSA/Paris-Sorbonne
  • Charles Devellennes – University of Kent
  • Philippe Dubois – École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), Centre de recherche sur la gouvernance (CERGO), Groupe de recherche en communication politique (GRCP)
  • Esther Durin – IHECS-Protagoras
  • Alexandre Eyries – Université catholique de l’Ouest (UCO), Centre de recherche Humanités et Sociétés (CHUS)
  • Mohamed Fahmi – Paris 8/Paris Nanterre & Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).
  • Mihaela Gavrila – Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza
  • Mehdi Ghassemi – Institut des Stratégies et Techniques de Communication (ISTC)
  • Adrien Jahier ­­– IHECS-Protagoras, GRESEA
  • Karine Johannes – ACCS, Université Internationale de Rabat
  • Stavros Kaperonis – Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Athènes)
  • Isabelle Le Breton-Falezan – CELSA/Paris-Sorbonne
  • Élise Le Moing-Maas – IHECS-Protagoras & Université Rennes 2
  • Thierry Libaert – ACCS, UCLouvain
  • Loïc Nicolas – IHECS-Protagoras 
  • Alvaro Oléart – Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
  • Gisela Reiter – FHWien der WKW, University of Salzburg & University of Vienna
  • Kelly Vossen – Université Saint-Louis (Bruxelles)
  • Jan Zienkowski – Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

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