Latest news with #PostwarEuropeandtheEurovisionSongContest
New Straits Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
Eurovision voting: when politics and kitsch converge
GROANS and giggles typically greet votes at the annual Eurovision Song Contest, loved and mocked for its kitsch music and seemingly partisan outcomes. But over time, what are the voting patterns, and what external factors help explain them? Ahead of Saturday's final in Basel, AFP analysed all points distributed among around 2,300 possible pairs – voting country/receiving country – since 1957. Patterns emerged, pointing to factors ranging from geopolitics and cultural affinities to the simple love of a good song. The various regional blocs in Europe taking part in the contest – Nordic, ex-Yugoslavia, former USSR, Baltic – broadly show solidarity with each other, allocating the majority of their points to those in their own bloc. Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland have thus provided more than one-fifth of the points Sweden has received since it first took part in 1958. But while blocs show clear patterns, discordances suggest other factors are also at play. Political tensions persist in the Balkans, for example, "but the cultural connections seem to have trumped the political divisions", Dean Vuletic, author of "Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest" (2019), told AFP. "I would say that this is because these countries do share a music industry." On the other hand some countries stand out for the very low number of points exchanged. Azerbaijan and Armenia, which fought two wars in Karabakh, have exchanged only one point – in 2009 by Armenia to its neighbour. Voting patterns also show distinct pairings of countries consistently voting higher than average for each other. Striking examples here include Cyprus and Greece, which since 1981 have given each other between above eight points (when the maximum was 12, up to 2015) and above 18 (when it was 24, since 2016) more than what they get on average. Romania and Moldova are another reciprocal pair, giving each other since 2005 between above nine and above 12 points more than their average score. As neighbouring countries, geography helps explain this recurring behaviour, as does language, but also familiarity with performers. "They intermix a lot," Nicholas Charron from the University of Gothenburg said to AFP. "There's so much collaboration across borders in terms of songwriting, in terms of choreography, the professionals that worked in these countries." On the flip side, there are also examples of one-way traffic: a country giving higher-than-average points to another that does not respond in kind. Cases include France, the country that has given more points to Israel than any other. It over-votes for Portugal too, as soon as the public has had a say – its average points allocated jumped from three to nine without reciprocity. Since 1997 voting at Eurovision is split between juries and the public in each country. From that date, and up to 2012, Germany showed a notable over-voting for Turkiye, averaging 10 points when before it had allocated around 1.4, while no such chumminess was displayed from the Turks. Labour laws and demographics can help explain this – in 1961 onwards as part of a guest worker deal, around three-quarters of a million Turks came to Germany to take jobs, creating over time a large diaspora. The diaspora vote, as soon as the public had a say in voting, would also seem to be at play in the French one-sided votes. "My guess is there's a lot of Portuguese people living in France that are voting for their own country and there's almost no French people that either care or vote from Portugal," Charron said. As for France to Israel, "this is indeed explained because France has the largest Jewish community in Europe," said Florent Parmentier at Sciences Po university in Paris. Flashpoint events can impact the vote in isolated years. In 2022 for example, the year Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, there was a huge upswing in votes for Kiev, which won the contest. And the public vote swung it for them. From 28 out of 39 countries, the public awarded Ukraine maximum points, while only five juries did. With 439 points out of a possible 468, no country had ever received so many points from the public. Such a surprise win could be an example of "volatile" factors having an impact, Farid Toubal from the University of Paris Dauphine told AFP. "The arrival in government of a dictator or a nationalist changes the dynamics with regard to (that country's) partners in Eurovision."
France 24
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Eurovision voting: when politics and kitsch converge
But over time, what are the voting patterns, and what external factors help explain them? Ahead of Saturday's final in Basel, AFP analysed all points distributed among around 2,300 possible pairs -- voting country/receiving country -- since 1957. Patterns emerged, pointing to factors ranging from geopolitics and cultural affinities to the simple love of a good song. Good neighbours The various regional blocs in Europe taking part in the contest -- Nordic, ex-Yugoslavia, former USSR, Baltic -- broadly show solidarity with each other, allocating the majority of their points to those in their own bloc. Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland have thus provided more than one-fifth of the points Sweden has received since it first took part in 1958. But while blocs show clear patterns, discordances suggest other factors are also at play. Political tensions persist in the Balkans, for example, "but the cultural connections seem to have trumped the political divisions", Dean Vuletic, author of "Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest" (2019), told AFP. "I would say that this is because these countries do share a music industry." On the other hand some countries stand out for the very low number of points exchanged. Azerbaijan and Armenia, which fought two wars in Karabakh, have exchanged only one point -- in 2009 by Armenia to its neighbour. Best buddies Voting patterns also show distinct pairings of countries consistently voting higher than average for each other. Striking examples here include Cyprus and Greece, which since 1981 have given each other between above eight points (when the maximum was 12, up to 2015) and above 18 (when it was 24, since 2016) more than what they get on average. Romania and Moldova are another reciprocal pair, giving each other since 2005 between above nine and above 12 points more than their average score. As neighbouring countries, geography helps explain this recurring behaviour, as does language, but also familiarity with performers. "They intermix a lot," Nicholas Charron from the University of Gothenburg said to AFP. "There's so much collaboration across borders in terms of songwriting, in terms of choreography, the professionals that worked in these countries." Unrequited love On the flip side, there are also examples of one-way traffic: a country giving higher-than-average points to another that does not respond in kind. Cases include France, the country that has given more points to Israel than any other. It over-votes for Portugal too, as soon as the public has had a say -- its average points allocated jumped from three to nine without reciprocity. Since 1997 voting at Eurovision is split between juries and the public in each country. From that date, and up to 2012, Germany showed a notable over-voting for Turkey, averaging 10 points when before it had allocated around 1.4, while no such chumminess was displayed from the Turks. Labour laws and demographics can help explain this -- in 1961 onwards as part of a guest worker deal, around three-quarters of a million Turks came to Germany to take jobs, creating over time a large diaspora. The diaspora vote, as soon as the public had a say in voting, would also seem to be at play in the French one-sided votes. "My guess is there's a lot of Portuguese people living in France that are voting for their own country and there's almost no French people that either care or vote from Portugal," Charron said. As for France to Israel, "this is indeed explained because France has the largest Jewish community in Europe," said Florent Parmentier at Sciences Po university in Paris. Volatile voting Flashpoint events can impact the vote in isolated years. In 2022 for example, the year Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, there was a huge upswing in votes for Kiev, which won the contest. And the public vote swung it for them. From 28 out of 39 countries, the public awarded Ukraine maximum points, while only five juries did. With 439 points out of a possible 468, no country had ever received so many points from the public. Such a surprise win could be an example of "volatile" factors having an impact, Farid Toubal from the University of Paris Dauphine told AFP. "The arrival in government of a dictator or a nationalist changes the dynamics with regard to (that country's) partners in Eurovision."
France 24
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Depoliticising Eurovision 'impossible', experts say
Hopeful artists drawn from 37 countries will compete in this year's contest in the Swiss city of Basel starting next week, with the big finale on May 17. Politics is officially barred from the event, but as with most years, organisers will have their hands full striving to keep tensions over culture wars and conflicts like Israel's war in Gaza from spilling into the glitzy festivities. Experts agree that is a tall order. "It's impossible to depoliticise the event," Dean Vuletic, a historian and the author of the book "Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest", told AFP. "It is completely impossible," agreed Jess Carniel, an associate professor at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. "With everyone competing under their national flag... there is always an undercurrent of politics." From the inception of the contest nearly 70 years ago, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises Eurovision, has insisted on its non-political nature. But politics have been omnipresent, from an Austrian protest over Spain's Franco dictatorship in 1969 to calls for European unity as the Soviet Union broke apart and Eastern European countries joined the contest in the early 1990s. Mass protests Before 1998 when Eurovision stopped requiring countries to perform in their national language, some strong political sentiments expressed in songs garnered little attention. Greece submitted a song in 1976 slamming Turkey over its invasion of Cyprus, "but it was in Greek and there was not much attention", Lisanne Wilken, an associate professor in European studies at Denmark's Aarhus University, told AFP. Since then, increased media attention and the possibility to put forth messages in English has meant that for "anyone who wants attention for a cause, Eurovision is a really good place to go", she said. More recent expressions of political condemnation have certainly not gone unnoticed. Russia's war in Ukraine dominated the discourse around the events in 2022, when Ukraine won the contest and Russia was barred, and again in 2023. And last year, Israel's war in Gaza cast a long shadow over the event, when thousands of demonstrators protested in the Swedish city of Malmo against Israeli entrant Eden Golan taking part. Demonstrations are already planned against Israel's participation this year, with Yuval Raphael -- who survived Hamas's deadly attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza -- due to perform her song "New Day Will Rise". New flag rules Experts say they do not expect protests on the same level as last year. One reason, Vuletic suggested, was that "the campaign against Israel last year was not successful". "No country boycotted Eurovision because of Israel" and the country garnered a high score, he pointed out. Experts also said the EBU's introduction of new rules may have an impact. The organisers have adopted a new flag policy, barring contestants from displaying flags other than that of the nation they represent, but loosening restrictions on the flags audience members can display. Eurovision explained that it aimed to "strike a balance to ensure that our audiences and artists can express their enthusiasm and identities, (while providing) more clarity for the delegations when it comes to official spaces". "I think the decision was mostly inspired by the references to Palestine last year," Vuletic said. Trump effect? Wilken meanwhile warned that the new policy could "backfire a little bit", with the ban on contestants waving Pride flags, for instance, possibly read as part of "the war on woke". Carniel agreed, pointing out that there had been "a bit of a backlash against so-called identity politics at the song contest, and criticism of the extent to which Eurovision has really leaned into queer fandom". By barring contestants from waving Pride flags or other symbols supporting LGBTQ rights, the organisers might "oddly be trying to bring more people in" by emphasising that the contest "is not an exclusively queer event". The United States may not be part of the contest, but experts said President Donald Trump's anti-diversity messaging could energise efforts by conservative forces in Europe eager to rid Eurovision of its LGBTQ-friendly identity. At the same time, the Trump administration's attacks on European countries could strengthen the contest's focus on forging a common European identity, Carniel suggested. © 2025 AFP
