From the cultural and foreign policies of western European far-right parties to the European Union’s 2015–2018 Work Plan for Culture – identifying and opposing nativism

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article is framed by an interest in cultural policy in the context of shifting political trends and cultural governance. It begins by comparing the cultural and foreign policy proposals of a number of western far-right Eurosceptic parties (FN, PVV, UKIP), arguing that they reveal a set of shared assumptions regarding cultural identity and sovereignty. It then suggests that the European Union’s 2015–2018 implementation of its motto (‘United in Diversity’), emphasising the ideas of intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity, did not question such nativist assumptions. Finally, proposing to imagine a relational cultural strategy incompatible with nativism, the article connects François Jullien’s understanding of culture as something that is built around shared resources with Judith Butler’s notion of performative agency. In doing so, the article contributes to the development of cultural policies that aren’t methodologically nationalist.