Aggression as Political Identity: An Attitudinal Analysis of Selected Pakistani Political Parties’ Tweets on 9th May Events

Abstract

The present study aims to examine how aggression is discursively constructed as political identity in PTI and PML-N tweets related to the 9 May 2023 events in Pakistan. While political aggression on social media is often discussed in terms of incivility or hate speech, less attention has been paid to evaluative aggression expressed through emotions, moral judgement, and event framing, particularly in English–Urdu partisan discourse. A qualitative discourse-analytic design was employed. A total of 34 publicly available tweets (17 PTI and 17 PML-N) were purposively selected and analyzed using Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Theory, focusing on Affect, Judgement, and Appreciation. The findings reveal that aggression was systematically organized through evaluative meanings that constructed in-group legitimacy and out-group exclusion. PTI discourse primarily framed aggression as ethical resistance and victimhood, whereas PML-N discourse presented it as state-centered moral authority and criminal accountability. The study highlights and recommends the role of evaluative language in normalizing political aggression and sustaining polarized identities in digital political crises.