Right-wing Populist Research Articles

Sanitary segregation imposed by Big Brother – a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Grzegorz Braun’s radical anti-vaccine rhetoric

ABSTRACT The coronavirus pandemic greatly impacted political communication. Operating within the framework of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper discusses the discursive strategies of Grzegorz Braun, one of the leaders of the Confederation Liberty and Independence – a Polish coalition of right-wing parties – by investigating 97 YouTube thumbnails and video titles. The present paper offers an in-depth investigation of Braun’s radical and anti-vaccine discourse, focusing on both the verbal and visual components, and how they form a coherent meaning. The findings indicate that Braun’s main strategy was to instill a sense of fear and danger. Similarly to other right-wing populists, Braun created narratives that the pandemic was a conspiracy crafted by global elites and that the vaccines were a tool for controlling society. However, Braun did not just copy the discourse of other politicians, but adjusted his message to the viewers, as he would make frequent references to the People’s Republic of Poland and compared the Polish government to communists. Overall, while Braun’s message was rather straightforward, the politician used a large variety of semiotic choices, focusing on potent cultural symbols, size, color, as well as intensification and predication strategies.

History education as prevention: the topic of right-wing extremism in German educational media

The rise of right-wing populism and extremism has challenged Western societies in recent years and raised fears of the destruction of liberal democracy. Against this backdrop, it seems reasonable to encourage students in history lessons to study the rise of National Socialism in order to prevent similar developments today. However, researchers and educators have emphasised that ‘learning from history’ does not take place in a straightforward way; moreover, it is questionable whether contemporary right-wing extremism can be best understood by studying the Nazi era. In order to understand how history education could contribute to citizenship education in this respect, this article asks how the topic of contemporary right-wing extremism is approached in German educational media, and how it is linked to the Nazi era. Based on an analysis of the pedagogical approaches towards the topic in 28 history textbook series, it investigates how the pedagogical approaches, the narrative about right-wing extremism and the subject position of the reader/player are intertwined in two selected textbooks and in one serious game. In conclusion, the article reflects on whether the innovative educational design of the serious game could inspire history education to find new approaches to the topic and thereby to contribute to citizenship education.

Populism and policy capacity: Evidence from an opposition municipality in Istanbul

AbstractDespite achievements in its conceptual rigor, policy capacity still represents a relatively depoliticized concept that fails to sufficiently consider the ways in which politics plays a role in its creation, mobilization, or decay. This article seeks to contribute to this debate by investigating the impact of populism on policy capacity, the type of policy capacity challenges posed and how they are related to populist policy design. Based on a case study of a municipality in Istanbul the article shows how populist politics and national populist policy design erode long‐term municipal policy capacity by enabling the (ab)use of the rule of law, loss of expertise, exhaustion of critical assets such as urban land and financial resources, and erosion of public citizenship due to growing expectations in the form of particularistic benefits. Declining policy capacity in turn leads to a shift in municipal policy priorities.

Exploring the Extremes: The Impact of Radical Right-Wing Populism on Conspiracy Beliefs in Austria

(1) Background: Populist radical right-wing parties and politicians have used conspiracy theories to perpetuate the antagonism between an evil elite conspiring against the good and unknowing people. Yet, less is known about whether and to what extent radical right-wing populism at the individual level is associated with different conspiracy beliefs. This analysis explores how the main components of radical right-wing populism—populist, nativist, and authoritarian attitudes—relate to both a general conspiracy mentality and specific conspiracy theories prevalent in political discourse. (2) Methods: Using data from an original 2023 online survey conducted in Austria, a stronghold of the populist radical right, this study includes new questions on immigration, COVID-19, and climate change, as well as a conspiracy mentality scale. (3) Results: The analyses reveal that all the main components are positively associated with different conspiracy beliefs, albeit to varying degrees. Across models, the strongest predictor is populism, followed by nativism and authoritarianism. Nativism varies the most across different conspiracy beliefs and is particularly associated with the belief in conspiracy theories related to immigration and climate change. (4) Conclusions: The results highlight the prevalence of radical right-wing populist attitudes across various conspiracy beliefs, reflecting how populist radical right-wing actors leverage conspiracy theories in their political discourse.

Anti-Gender Politics, Economic Insecurity, and Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of Modern Sexism among Young Men in South Korea

Anti-Gender Politics, Economic Insecurity, and Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of Modern Sexism among Young Men in South Korea

Understanding right-wing populists’ anti-abortion politics in Turkey: The symbolic violence of the state

This study investigates how symbolic violence is shaping anti-abortion stances associated with legitimising right-wing populist policies. The prominent questions are as follows: What are the institutional and politico-administrative mechanisms that are impacting anti-abortion politics in terms of material and symbolic violence? How and to what extent does anti-abortion politics influence the interplay between symbolic and material state violence? The study argues that reproduction-centred policies and material and symbolic violence have intensified through anti-abortion politics in the discursive context of the social reproduction crisis in Turkey. It explores the institutional actions and the legitimation mechanisms of anti-abortion policies in relation to the penetration of right-wing populist politics after the authoritarian turn of 2010. This qualitative case study uses critical discourse analysis. It interprets the public speeches of representatives of the government and documentary data concerning the ruling party’s programmes, development plans and relevant legislation. The research provides a gendered perspective on the anti-abortion policies that anchor right-wing populism in terms of the crisis of social reproduction. It also contributes to critical state theory and pre-existing feminist scholarship on right-wing populism.

Thirteen Bloodlines Planning a Genocide: COVID Conspiracies as a Form of White Ignorance in the Finnish Rap Song “Tuku Tuku”

ABSTRACT The article analyzes a Finnish anti-vax rap song “Tuku Tuku” (released in 2022) by likeminded white rappers and shows how the song constructs conspiracy theories by comparing preventative COVID measures, especially vaccines, to oppression, slavery, and genocide. Close reading of the song provides a deep dive into conspiratorial rhetoric within the context of two recent developments: a global pandemic and right-wing populism. The article argues that the song constructs a form of counterknowledge that relies on white ignorance.

Look at this! Radical right-wing populist information sharing practices on Twitter in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil

Politicians communicate on social media not only by direct utterances, but also by where they choose to direct followers’ attention using strategic interaction, audiovisual content and outlinks, i.e. their information sharing practices. Political communication research has focused on the former, but the latter is a relevant way to foster advantageous informational environments and interact with media systems. This is especially important for radical right-wing populists, due to their reliance on social media and adjacency to disinformation. Portugal, Spain, and Brazil provide important research cases due to media system characteristics and the different positions within the political system of the relevant leaders, which generates different opportunity structures. This article approaches relevant radical right-wing populist leaders’ information sharing practices by analysing the non-textual content of tweets ( n = 6087), emphasizing how they reflect relations with local media systems.

The Mosque Nearby: Visible Minorities and Far-Right Support in France

How is support for right-wing populist parties affected by exposure to Muslim visibility? Using an original database on French mosques, this article analyzes the relationship between the presence of mosques and support for the Front National at the polling station level in the late 2000s. It finds that the propensity to vote for the Front National increases in polling stations up to intermediate distances from mosques and then decreases, suggesting a spatial mechanism known as the halo effect. The analysis also shows that larger mosques and those with minarets are associated with an accentuated halo effect, suggesting the importance of the salience of minority groups rather than their relative size in influencing political behavior.

Defending the Pluralistic Minimum Universality of Human Rights

The idea of ‘universal human rights’ has emerged as a significant topic on the global agenda with the intensification of globalisation through technological change, the spread of transport and digital communication tools, and the increased visibility of instances of gross human rights violations in diverse regions worldwide. However, the spirit of the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, which emerged in the aftermath of the wave of fascism in 20th century Europe and the devastation of the Second World War, is still unable to penetrate all parts of the world. Furthermore, the rise of authoritarian populism in recent years has the potential to lead to a retreat from the idea of universal human rights. Thusly, the main purpose of this article is to introduce a viable, effective, pluralistic and minimum universal understanding of human rights on which world public opinion can agree. Within this framework, the intellectual elements of radical universalism and radical relativism, which are the parties to the debate on the universality of human rights, have been subjected to a rigorous analysis. A philosophical discussion was held in order to put forward an understanding of human rights that is respectful of multiculturalism and does not leave individuals at the mercy of the countries and societies in which they live, and to overcome the dichotomy in question. Moreover, the possible obstacles to the implementation of human rights worldwide have been discussed and the limits and scope of the pluralistic minimum universalist understanding of human rights have been revealed.

Teaching the January 6th Insurrection: Historical Perspectives on a Crisis in American Democracy

Abstract This article offers a framework for analyzing and teaching the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. The crisis itself offers an opportunity to unpack and better understand American political discourses and institutions. I focus on four historical and contemporary currents that elucidate the January 6th crisis: 1) White supremacy and backlashes against Civil Rights; 2) conservative assaults on the New Deal order and the regulatory state; 3) organized labor’s decline, right-wing populism’s rise, and nativism; 4) political polarization, sectarianism, and minority rule. These themes enable students to assess both crucial challenges posed by January 6th and the vitality of American democracy.

How liberalism accommodates far-right social movements: on “mainstreaming” and the need for critical theory in far-right studies

Abstract Scholarship on social movements, racism, and nationalism increasingly falls under the purview of “extremism studies” and its subfield “far-right studies.” Prominent extremism scholars have developed generalist theories purportedly explaining far-right politics and power dynamics (or “mainstreaming”) across liberal societies. They define “far-right” as “illiberal” politics promoting dehumanization, exclusion, and inequality. Their theory of mainstreaming suggests that “the” far-right is a coherent entity that “enters” mainstream institutions or discourse from the outside. For these scholars, strengthening liberal-civic principles prevents far-right political power (mainstreaming). I call these approaches “grand theory templates,” which I critique for simplistic interpretations of power and for overlooking critical theory scholarship showing how liberalism accommodates far-right politics. Using the Canadian nationalist movement as a case study, I show how liberal chauvinism can be crucial to empowering right-wing populist movements. My data include over 40 hours of participant-observation at 20 right-wing events and 35 interviews with 42 current leaders and members of on-the-ground nationalist groups. Right-wing nationalists foregrounded liberal-civic ideas, such as “security,” “rights,” “objectivity,” and “tolerance,” to advance anti-Muslim sentiment and populist conspiracism. My findings suggest that far-right movements can gain power by embracing liberalism’s ambiguity and contradictions. In other words, mastering liberal messaging can be essential to the growth of far-right movements, challenging any easy dismissal of these politics as “illiberal.” Altogether, “top–down” grand theory templates oversimplify political distinctions and power, compromising research design and analysis. I advocate for more granular and “bottom–up” inductive approaches that prioritize sociological traditions over theories recently popularized by extremism scholars.

Transnational readings in the Trumpocene: Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 and Chris Beckett’s America City

This article discusses two climate fiction novels—one British, one American—that were written in the runup to two major political events on either side of the Atlantic in 2016—the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency—and considers how their focus on a future climate emergency serves as an apt reflection on the mutual reinforcements of neoliberalism, precarization, and populism. By looking at these two novels together through the lens of right-wing populism and notions such as the Capitalocene (Moore), the Trumpocene (Colebrook) and the “critical utopia” (Moylan), I consider how the future climate catastrophes that these novels imagine are equally likely “to be used as opportunities to advance and entrench socially regressive forms of politics and unsustainable trajectories […] as inspire forms of ‘disaster collectivism,’ where acts of community and solidarity flourish” (Newell, 2020: 157). As novels that are deeply concerned with the politics of the present, I consider how Robinson’s and Beckett’s novels are inspired by different utopian inflections that lead to different outcomes but similar diagnoses: that the worst effects of climate change will not be averted because humanity seems bent on its current trajectory.

Carnival, charisma, and kayfabe: The delegation of intellectual labor through ludic layering in Donald Trump's rhetorical style

AbstractThe many aberrations of Donald Trump's political career are important to analyze not only with regard to the state of the union but also for how they challenge existing theories of rhetoric, power, and performance. Among the studies conducted during and after Trump's presidential term to explain his persistent appeal to millions of Americans, scholars have constructively focused on his particular style of authoritarian populism, his revival of a premodern form of charisma, and his entanglements with professional wrestling. Taken together, these theoretical foci inform my approach to an underexamined subset of Trumpian utterances: those that simultaneously evoke entirely incompatible meanings, from the frivolous to the aggressive. Examining a series of such perplexing verbal and visual rhetorical moments through the lenses of the carnivalesque, the berserk charismatic, and the fractal fictions of kayfabe, I develop a theory of the delegation of intellectual labor through ludic layering that accounts for some of the power of Trump's rhetorical performances and is potentially applicable to understanding polyvocality in other populists' rhetoric. I further show how this concept suggests improvements on existing recommendations for listening to and reporting on an authoritarian figure like Trump.

The effect of apparent Police power at demonstrations against right-wing populism on Protestors' resistance using a virtual reality experiment.

Based on the Elaborated Social Identity Model of Crowd Behaviour, we tested in two experiments whether a forceful display of police power increases perceptions of illegitimacy of the police and the formation of resistance among protestors. In the high power condition, the police were dressed in riot gear (with helmets, armed with shields and batons). In the low power condition, the police were dressed in regular uniforms. In both studies, people participated in a demonstration against right-wing populism using a virtual reality setting and were either stopped by the police in riot gear or by the police in regular uniforms. The results of Study 1 (N = 155) show that the police in riot gear were evaluated as more illegitimate compared to the police in normal clothing. The results of Study 2 (N = 97) replicated this finding and illustrated that police in riot gear (compared to regular uniforms) increased protestors' intentions to engage in direct resistance against the police. This effect was mediated by perceptions of illegitimacy and anger directed at the police. Furthermore, weakly identified protestors were particularly affected by the display of power and were more likely to engage in anti-police resistance and collective action. Implications are discussed.

Race and Populism. A Comparative Study of Thatcherism, Peronism and the American Populists

Abstract This article re-examines the race-populism nexus. It asks: Does populist political construction of the figure of “the people” necessarily involve processes of racial othering? We answer this question by revisiting three emblematic cases of populism. Each historical case illustrates a basic type of identity formation that can have an i) exclusionary, ii) ambivalent or iii) positive impact on racial justice. The first case is Thatcherism, whose “authoritarian populism” feeds on and reinforces anti-Black racial prejudice. The second is Peronism, which has an ambivalent relationship with race that promises to shed important new light on this classic case of populism. The third case is that of the American Populists, whose pioneering experiments in interracial politics remain an enduring illustration of populism’s progressive potential. In each case, we focus on a key document from that political regime/movement: the Conservative Manifesto of 1979, the Peronist Constitution of 1949, and the Omaha Platform of 1892. The article concludes that populism, as a logic of action, acts as a catalyst that intensifies whatever specific content is mobilised – racist and anti-racist content alike.

Post-trial access practice in malaria, tuberculosis, and NTDs clinical trial studies in Sub-Saharan African countries, quantitative study

This article discusses two climate fiction novels—one British, one American—that were written in the runup to two major political events on either side of the Atlantic in 2016—the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency—and considers how their focus on a future climate emergency serves as an apt reflection on the mutual reinforcements of neoliberalism, precarization, and populism. By looking at these two novels together through the lens of right-wing populism and notions such as the Capitalocene (Moore), the Trumpocene (Colebrook) and the “critical utopia” (Moylan), I consider how the future climate catastrophes that these novels imagine are equally likely “to be used as opportunities to advance and entrench socially regressive forms of politics and unsustainable trajectories […] as inspire forms of ‘disaster collectivism,’ where acts of community and solidarity flourish” (Newell, 2020: 157). As novels that are deeply concerned with the politics of the present, I consider how Robinson’s and Beckett’s novels are inspired by different utopian inflections that lead to different outcomes but similar diagnoses: that the worst effects of climate change will not be averted because humanity seems bent on its current trajectory.

Revisiting the Debates on the 2010 Constitutional Referendum in Turkey: Democratic Transition or Authoritarian Populism?

This article revisits the scholarly debates on the AKP’s constitutional amendment package that was put to vote in the 2010 Constitutional Referendum. It takes the democratic theorist Andrew Arato and constitutional scholar Aslı Bali as major representatives of the two opposing views on the political implications of the reform proposal. It compares and contrasts their arguments particularly in light of their different assessments of the amendments which concern the restructuring of the judiciary, especially the Turkish Constitutional Court. It argues that their fundamental controversy with regard to the democratic or authoritarian nature of these amendments is rooted in the contrast between Bali’s predominantly contextual and Arato’s predominantly global approach. While Bali affirms the reform proposal as a democratic step forward in transcending the persistent legacy of the Kemalist authoritarian “tutelary” regime represented by the Constitutional Court, Arato interprets it as a manifestation of the global populist-authoritarian retreat that is expresses itself most visibly through assaults against the independent judiciary. After a critical reading of these two approaches, this paper finalizes by way of introducing a new framework that would counterbalance the contextual with the global and vice versa that would arguably provide a new perspective through which one could unveil the particular characteristics of the AKP’s populist constitutional politics at the time of the Referendum.

Far-right retorics and deconstructions in Brazilian educational policies

Brazil's education policy has historically been marked by significant inequalities in access and quality, particularly affecting the most vulnerable populations. Over the past two decades, Brazil has implemented substantial changes aimed at reducing inequality, promoting inclusion, and addressing racial and gender disparities. However, the rise of radical right-wing populism, particularly under President Jair Bolsonaro (2018-2022), resulted in a shift in educational policy. This article examines how radical right groups have influenced education policy in Brazil. Bolsonaro's administration, supported by conservative and religious groups, sought to reverse progressive policies related to gender, sexual orientation, and ethnic diversity and inclusion. These changes reinforced societal norms, traditional values, and nationalism, rejecting multiculturalism and adopting forms of othering. The findings are based on previous research that involded qualitative analysis of documents and interviews.

Narratives Behind Climate Strategy in Finland

The 2015 Paris Agreement (PA) represents a profound change in global climate governance becoming a blueprint for other governance arenas. However, the varying success of reaching the national climate targets, unstable security, and growing right-wing populism poses a question of which direction the EU climate policy is moving after ten years of PA. The success of this agreement depends heavily on the effectiveness of national climate change policies wherein political parties have a critical role in developing these policies while also impacting public attitudes on climate change. We use the case of Finnish climate strategy as a case of national climate strategy. We analyzed Finnish climate policy documents by using Ostrom’s IAD Framework and Multiple stream framework analysis to create the narratives behind the Finnish climate strategy. The Institutional Analysis and Development framework (IAD) is a conceptual tool that Ostrom and her colleagues developed to analyze and understand the complex interactions and dynamics within institutions that govern common-pool resources. Our research question is: What are the narratives behind the Finnish climate strategy? Key words: Climate strategy, narrative, IAD framework, Multiple stream analysis framework