Andreas Stocklasser received the Junior management (JUMS) award to recognize the best master thesis of this years cohort of the WU Management master. Prof. Dr. Dominik van Aaken presented the award after the presentations of the best master theses and invited Andreas to submit his work to the JUMS-journal.

What is the master thesis about? The thesis explores the research question: How does political polarization manifest as a discourse phenomenon in Austrian electoral programs? Andreas conducted an empirical analysis of strategic communication through (a) vocabulary, (b) rhetoric, and (c) emotions in Contested Issue Fields (migration crisis and climate crisis). He identified two typologies of fragmented discourses: 1. Strategic isolation by one party (migration crisis) and 2. Multiple distancing without a bridge actor (climate crisis). The insight is that "Polarization is a state of a socially constructed process to determine authority over meaning, in which the actors strategically emotionalize, legitimize, and typify, resulting in fragmented discourse field configurations that make it very difficult or impossible to reach a compromise“. This understanding moves beyond the traditional two-side perspective to capture the complex discursive nature of polarization.