Scaring for the greater good? Discursive construction of fear appeals in the brexit referendum campaign

This article deals with fear appeals in the Remain campaign during the 2016 Brexit referendum, as a prime case of exploitation of anticipative fear in political campaigning. It explores the topic uniquely through the discursive lens, highlighting the need for a more nuanced reading of fear-based discourse in the Remain campaign beyond the broad-brush image often offered in the extant literature. It identifies the patterns of the discursive construction of fear appeals by analysing and interpreting both its macro-discoursal and micro-linguistic content and strategies. To do so, the inquiry works with a dataset of public addresses by nine leading Remain campaigners (Cameron, Osborne, Hammond, May, Truss, Corbyn, Alan Johnson, Sturgeon and Clegg) and employs a mixed-methods approach, combining systematic qualitative content analysis with the discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis. At the same time, the article has a broader relevance beyond the Brexit case. Fear-based discourse continues to persist (especially in the context of Covid-19 pandemic or climate change). Consequently, the study also critically discusses the practical implications of political elite-driven fear messaging.