Populism and nativism in contemporary regionalist and nationalist politics: A minimalist framework for ideologically opposed parties

George Newth

doi:10.1177/0263395721995016

Abstract

Recent literature on the centre–periphery debate in European politics has produced a wide range of composite paradigms of regionalism, nationalism, and populism and nativism. A number of these definitions, however, tend to overemphasise the importance of populism by either framing it as a core ideology or by conflating it with the nationalism or regionalism of a specific party. This article makes three innovative contributions to populist studies by sustaining an ideational approach to populism and its combination with regionalist and nationalist ideologies. First, the article addresses the varied and at times conflicting composite paradigms of regionalism, nationalism, and populism by proposing a minimalist ‘populist regionalist’ and ‘populist nationalist’ conceptual framework; this places the emphasis on the type of nationalism and regionalism (left- or right-wing, civic or ethnic) to which populism and (potentially) nativism are attached. Second, by emphasising a clear distinction between populism and nativism, the article adds to a growing field of literature which aims to address the problem of ‘populist hype’. Finally, the contribution of a brief comparative case study illustrates how populism represents a key link between nationalists and regionalists ranging from the far-left to the far-right which are otherwise separated by nativism.

Highlights

The centre–periphery debate in European politics has grown in prominence, with the recent literature analysing ‘the intersection of territoriality, ethno-politics, and populism’ and how nationalism, regionalism, and populism can be mixed covering ‘a large range of ideological orientation on the left-right-axis’ (Heinisch et al, 2020)
The following research question will be addressed in this article: To what extent does a framework of populist regionalism and populist nationalism enable the examination of similarities between ideologically heterogeneous regionalist and nationalist parties?
For the Lega and the Catalan autonomists, populist regionalism and populist nationalism have been defined by their regionalist and nationalist ideologies, demonstrating how ‘by itself, populism can offer neither complex nor comprehensive answers to the political questions that modern societies generate’ (Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, 2017: 6)

Summary

Introduction

The centre–periphery debate in European politics has grown in prominence, with the recent literature analysing ‘the intersection of territoriality, ethno-politics, and populism’ and how nationalism, regionalism, and populism can be mixed covering ‘a large range of ideological orientation on the left-right-axis’ (Heinisch et al, 2020). Both Bossi’s and Salvini’s Lega have been chosen here to highlight the consistency of populism and nativism in party discourse and compare the ethnic articulation of its core ideology with the more civic articulations within the Catalan autonomist movement.

Results

Conclusion