Threat or Opportunity? The Politicization of Focusing Events in the Parliamentary Arena

Focusing events, that is, crises and catastrophes, provide an opportunity for political change, learning and evaluation of governmental performance. The aim of this study was to analyse the politicization of four focusing events in the parliamentary arena, concerning framing, blame attribution, emotional appeal and solutions presented. Are there any differences between events with a varying degree of strength (stronger vs. weaker) and origin (human-made vs. natural disasters) concerning the debate in the plenary sessions? The findings show that a stronger degree of focus results in more tendencies to portray the event as an opportunity for change. Moreover, concerning origin, natural disasters are more often discussed in terms of anger, with debate contributions posed by the opposition parties.