Wing Populism Research Articles

Introduction to political storytelling: populists, Islamists, far-right groups and nostalgic nationalism in Europe and beyond

ABSTRACT This Special Issue shows that narratives of domination are political storytelling that promises its audience that ‘becoming the people' is possible via a shared history that can continue to exist if an obscure ‘they’ and its subjectivity are obliterated. Nowadays, systematic killings and starvation of Palestinians, rampant attacks and murdering Muslims in Britain and Queer peoples in the USA are good examples of why listening closely to political storytelling is called for. It has become paramount to listen closely to political storytelling, its dehumanisation and inhuman capacities and distortion of historical facts since 7th October 2023. The suffering and struggles of Palestinians, the destruction of Gaza and the genocide are misused to either mobilise and appease right wing populism in Western Europe (especially the Netherlands and Germany) or mobilise religious populism in states where Islam is constitutionally acknowledged primary religion (especially Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan). Listening closely to political storytelling is about teasing out populism as doing politics rather than thin fables emerging from misinformation and disinformation or deception and malintention.

Pensions and the Capture of Social Reproduction

Pensions are the conceptual basis of social welfare. Through contributions from the entire labour force towards the end of each individual’s labour life, the pension system has an underlying effect that binds together the means of social reproduction. Banking on our need for security in future old age, pension funds have captured and supported financialisation of multiple areas for social reproduction. Despite their scale, pensions are failing to secure wellbeing in old age, and elderly poverty has become a political issue exploited by right wing populism in Germany. Looking at the notion of saving for old age as essentially misguided, I argue that a contractual framework of welfare will be fundamentally challenged by the ageing population. Examining the current failings of the PAYGO system, I consider how public provision of care and a capabilities based pension discourse can have much to contribute to economic organisation, the re-design of the pension system and to securing the means of social reproduction.

Fugitive Truth: Renewing the Public Sphere in the Age of Post-Truth

In the sixty years since the publication of Jürgen Habermas' magnum opus, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, the public sphere now faces a new threat in the era of “post-truth” politics. The preponderance of lies, mis/disinformation, “fake news”, “alternative facts”, conspiracy theories, and the general breakdown of trust in established sources of knowledge and information has led to the fragmentation and deepening polarisation of the public sphere - a situation deliberately promoted by right wing populist forces intent on fighting the “culture wars”. At the same time, the political space is being disrupted, in a different way, through new social movements and radical activism particularly around issues of climate change, inequality, racial injustice, and police violence. My aim is to show how these contemporary forms of dissent are engendering a new “structural” transformation of the public sphere. They create autonomous and critical spaces of collective engagement that call into question the legitimacy of dominant power structures. Understanding this process requires an alternative rendering of the relationship between truth and politics - something I develop through Michel Foucault's rethinking of the critical impulse of the Kantian Enlightenment and his later work on parrhesia.

The Renewable Energy Transition and “the People” – Exploring the Intersections of Right-wing Populism and the Renewable Energy Transition in Portuguese Media Discourses

ABSTRACT Local contestation to the deployment of large-scale renewable energy infrastructures has been increasing. Right-wing populism has also been on the rise across the world. This article aims to explore the potential relations between these two socio-political issues, by analyzing Portuguese media discourses on the renewable energy transition and if and how those expose associations with right-wing populist rhetoric. 465 articles published by Portuguese newspapers were analyzed through Thematic Analysis, which revealed three main themes: Portugal at the forefront of the green transition; the dark side of the transition; and, less pervasively, energy justice as crucial for a green transition. These themes and how they are discursively organized resonate with far-right wing populist rhetoric, such as nationalist, anti-elitist and anti-establishment views. This might find echo in rural communities affected by the green energy transition feelings of marginalization. Key policy highlights Portuguese media communication on the green transition and its injustices, uses similar devices and tropes to right-wing populist rhetoric, which might incentivize support to right-wing populist parties; The media have a key role in communicating about the green energy transition and related justice issues in a politicized and multivocal way; Policy-makers need to promote a more just transition and contest the commodification of renewable energy and the discourse of renewable energy infrastructures as inherently sustainable.

Not in my House: EU-citizenship among East-Central European Citizens: Comparative Analyses

Abstract The successes of right -wing populist parties in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as a repeated distancing from the European Union, raise the question of whether there is such a thing as European citizenship at all. Citizenship is not understood as formal nationality, but as a sense of belonging. This ties in with the considerations of political cultural research. This article uses representative surveys to address the question: What about European Citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe? The results show that the feeling of belonging to the European Union in Eastern and Central Europe is better than its reputation and not lower than in Western Europe. However, there are differences in the recognition of plurality between the majority (not all) of Eastern European states compared to the majority of Western European states. In particular, the integration of Muslims is more strongly rejected. The same applies to the social acceptance of homosexuality. This partly explains the success of right -wing populists in Central and Eastern Europe and marks a certain cultural difference, which is primarily directed against a wet model of democracy that is considered too open to plurality. In short: Central and Eastern Europeans also see themselves as Europeans and EU members, but their ideas of a European democracy differ from Western ideas – especially in peripheral regions.

Cosmopolitan realism and the inward turn

ABSTRACT Some self-declared defenders of democracy maintain that a suspension of the ‘cosmopolitan agenda’ is necessary to blunt the appeal of insurgent right wing populism. I argue that cosmopolitans should support this ‘inward turn’ when doing so helps to preserve the long-term viability of that agenda. Cosmopolitans must certainly motivate citizens of different countries to support it. However, they must also encourage those citizens to support democracy and inclusion at home, for support for the cosmopolitan agenda becomes less likely in its absence. Therefore, cosmopolitans should support the inward turn when doing so makes it harder for right wing populists to erode popular support for democracy, inclusion, and the cosmopolitan agenda. Practically speaking, then, cosmopolitanism should not look that different from liberal nationalism in the short-term. Unlike liberal nationalists, though, cosmopolitans should only prioritize the defense of democracy and inclusion at home for practical reasons – not normative reasons. Accordingly, cosmopolitanism should look different from liberal nationalism in the long run, but not radically so. I engage with the empirical literature on public opinion and pay special attention to Lea Ypi’s argument for ‘statist cosmopolitanism.’

Tasks, sacrifices and digitized rituals: interpellating the Indian subject through rites of nationalism

This essay advances the concept of ritualized nationalism in order to understand the rise of right wing populism in India. It analyzes Narendra Modi’s strategy of assigning tasks and seeking sacrifices from citizens in the name of nation building to understand how it has helped make nationalism a pervasive phenomenon that is unprecedented in India’s history. The essay utilizes the theory of rituals to claim that the prescribed formats of Modi’s tasks and assignments allow those actions to be distinct and mark the doer as “nationalists” in the digital domain as opposed to those not participating. This has further helped foster and inculcate a nationalistic subject who emerges from the ritual of completing the assigned tasks and publicizing its evidence on social media as an agent who embodies the jingoistic and muscular form of nationalism prevalent in India today. By showing how this process plays out across a series of assigned tasks and sacrifices during Modi’s era, the essay hopes to both add to explanations about the rise of right wing nationalism in India while also showing that each global iteration of populist nationalism has a distinct trajectory and motivation.

PRUNUL TRANSGENIC HONEYSWEET ARE EFECT NEUTRAL ASUPRA DIVERSITĂȚII ȘI DINAMICII POPULAȚIILOR DE AFIDE ÎN CONDIȚII DE CLIMAT TEMPERAT- CONTINENTAL

‘HoneySweet’ is a genetically engineered plum resistant to Plum pox virus. Potential risks such as its impact on the diversity and dynamics of indigenous aphid populations was assessed. The study compared winged population of aphids visiting transgenic and conventional plums under continental temperate climatic conditions of Romania. The experimental analysis was conducted during three years (2016-2018) within an experimental plot containing transgenic (‘HoneySweet’) and conventional (‘Reine Claude d’Althan’ and ‘Stanley’) plums. This study revealed a similarity of both flight curves and the number and species of aphids landing on the two types of plum. Overall results showed no statistically differences between aphid species visiting the three cultivars, respectively the two types of plum. Consequently, our results support the hypothesis of the neutral effect of the transgenic plum on indigenous populations of aphids.

Partisanship and perceptions of the consequences of welfare service privatization from left to right (-wing populism)

In view of increased support for a rightwing populist (RWP) party and marketization of the Swedish welfare state, here we study local politicians’ and voters’ perceptions of welfare service privatization. We specifically ask whether such perceptions form coherent attitudinal profiles, linked to partisanship and left-right ideology. Using survey data focusing on the views of local politicians and voters in Sweden, we analyze perceptions of potential consequences of privatization and apply cluster analysis to examine whether and how such perceptions are interlinked. The results show that two distinct and contrasting latent profiles can be identified based on the underlying pattern across eight indicators. A large majority displays these profiles, which are closely connected to partisanship and ideology. Moreover, an ambivalent profile is identified. Contrary to expectations, views expressed by RWP politicians and voters are mainly aligned with the coherent profile associated with social democrats but also to a lesser extent the ambivalent profile. Thus, there appears to be a duality in RWP politicians’ and voters’ perceptions of welfare service privatization, suggesting that the potential impact of increased support for an RWP party on the future development of welfare service delivery in Sweden is not clear-cut.

2023 Elections in Turkey within Global Context: Right Wing Populism in the Era of Global Shift

ABSTRACT Many observers predicted that the catastrophic earthquake of February 2023 and huge and unprecedent problems of high inflation and cost of living crisis would end Erdogan era and his credibility in Turkey. However, despite all ongoing deep problems, Erdogan and his AKP government, after more than 20 years in power, still managed to win the 2023 elections in the second round. It seems none of the serious economic and political problems were enough to get the majority of votes away from the governing party, AKP. Even in the cities where the earthquake costed high level of damage, AKP and Erdogan got significantly high votes, despite rampant corruption and economic mismanagement. The AKP government has not been punished either economically or politically. On the contrary, one of the most striking consequences of this election is that Turkey now has the most right-wing parliament in its recent modern history if we include the right-wing opposition parties in the composition.

Populism and emotions: a comparative study using Machine Learning

AbstractThis study aims to unpack the mobilization of emotions in the political discourse of populist and non-populist parties and above all, across ‘varieties of populism’ (right wing vs. left wing or hybrid). Is there an empirical connection between emotions and populism? Are all types of populisms alike with regards to the emotional appeals within their political discourse? Focusing on Italy as a crucial case for populist communication and using a novel methodological approach based on supervised machine learning, it systematically investigates the intensity and trends of specific emotions in political discourses (institutional and informal, i.e. leaders’ speeches) of all Italian political parties over the last 20 years, for a corpus of more than 13,000 sentences analysed. The findings confirm that (i) populists tend to use more (and a broader repertoire of) emotional appeals than non-populist parties; however (ii) overall, there is an increase in the use of these appeals in the Italian political party discourse over time, especially in terms of negative emotions; and, most importantly, (iii) different types of emotions are mobilized by different types of populisms. Right wing populism mainly uses negative emotions while left wing or hybrid populism employs positive emotional appeals. The communication arena (party manifestoes vs. speeches) nevertheless does matter in the degree and types of emotions mobilized by political actors. This study identifies important implications for research on emotional appeals in politics, populist communication and political campaigning, and populist contagion from an emotion-based perspective.

A typology of right-wing populism in Europe: Intersections of gender, religion and secularity

This study attempts to advance our understanding of the role gender plays in populist politics by proposing a typology of gendered populism. Our argument is that populist parties' discursive construction of “the people” against “elites” and “non-people” is a gendered process, in which gender operates as a constitutive element for determining who is included in or excluded from “the people”. We also argue that the gendered construction of “the people” intersects with parties' configurations of religion and secularism. We propose that this intersection forms a four dimensional space of gendered populism composed of inclusionary or exclusionary and religious or secular populisms. Our analysis comparatively examines the discourses and policies of the right wing populist parties (RWPPs) and their leaders in France, Sweden and Turkey. Despite sharing an exclusionary understanding of “the people”, the selected RWPPs represent a variegated gendered populism because of their diverging approaches to gender, religion and secularity. Our comparative analysis approaches national-institutional backgrounds concerning the legal status of secularism, political and socio-cultural secularization as possible explanatory factors for the formation of religious and secular exclusionary populism in the four dimensional space. We believe, a four dimensional approach to populism sheds light on our understanding of gendered populism and proposes a fruitful avenue for future comparative studies of populism.

Culture wars and the making of authoritarian populism: articulations of spatial division and popular consent

This article considers the relationship between culture wars and the politically divisive landscape being shaped by contemporary forms of right–wing populism. It argues that culture wars should be understood as a technique through which the current Conservative government is seeking to shape and secure forms of what Stuart Hall termed 'authoritarian populism'. This mode of political intervention is being generated through mobilising particular spatial divisions and imaginaries. To develop this argument the article considers two particular elements within the culture–war discourse in Conservative politics, each of which depends on and mobilises different spatial divisions. The first section deals with the role of 'Levelling Up' discourses, while the second part explores the Tories' increasing emphasis on 'impunity' for British soldiers.

Enough Already! A Socialist Feminist Response to the Re-emergence of Right Wing Populism and Fascism in Media, de Faith Agostinone-Wilson. Leiden: Brill Sense, 2020, 223 pp.

Enough Already! A Socialist Feminist Response to the Re-emergence of Right Wing Populism and Fascism in Media, de Faith Agostinone-Wilson. Leiden: Brill Sense, 2020, 223 pp.

THE (IN)STABILITY OF DEMOCRACY

AbstractHow stable are democracies? Building on Ghosal and Proto (2009, Journal of Public Economics, 93, 1078–1089), the conditions under which democracies are stable are analyzed. How these conditions relate to the threat of the rise of right wing populism poses to democracies is discussed.

Political geography II: Violence

This report focuses on the diverse and multiple manifestations of political, state, and counter-state violence. Many of the examinations of political violence in this report highlight the continued need for disparate methodological and analytic lenses towards robust understandings of political violence across scales. Displacements and mobilities associated with flight from conflict are discussed in relation to the institutionalization of harm, trauma and containment through various state and supranational mechanisms of control. These mobilities include border crossings and associated violence against vulnerable populations seeking refuge. This is buttressed by discursive binary logics, such as us/them categorizations, which remain endemic to both structural and physical violence and foundational to right wing populism, jingoism, and other forms of political extremism. This report concludes by arguing the peace is not the opposite of war but rather its temporal substitute and partner in an assemblage of political and economic co-dependence.

ANALISIS POSTER KAMPANYE LEGISLATIF PARTAI RASAMBLEMENT NATIONAL DI PERANCIS TAHUN 2017

Radical right populism is a phenomena that happens in almost every part of Europe, including France. In France, Rassamblement National Party (RN) which used to be called Front National Party (FN) steps up their campaign rhetoric using the anti-refugee agenda to mobilize their voters. Using the concept of Right Wing Populism and Critical Discourse Analysis Method, this paper seeks to analyse whether or not the campaign narrative of Rassamblement National Party meets the characters of Radical Right Populist party. This Paper uses a number of posters as a media to reveal their characteristics of Radical Right Populist Party. This paper argues that even if the use of poster is still one of the most dominant campaign media in France, the party’s characters as a radical right populist party are not being well portrayed in their campaign posters.

Question design and the construction of populist stances in political news interviews

This paper focuses on the relationship between journalism and right wing populist discourses in the context of broadcast news interviews. We analyse a specific feature of question design in which the public is invoked as a source of opinionated positions in adversarial interviewing. Analysing data from a range of socio-political contexts, we identify a shift in adversarial questioning along a scale of ‘soft’ populism, that is the attribution of views and concerns to a generic public ‘in crisis’, to ‘hard’ populism, where interviewers construct hypothetical scenarios in which populist positions are attributed to ‘some people’. We argue that the democratic role of journalists as public watchdogs, holding politicians and public figures accountable on behalf of the public, is challenged by this normalisation of populist moral order discourses in a routine journalistic practice, both drawing on and contributing to the propagation of populist agendas and anti-democratic populist rhetoric.

\u201cDon\u2019t confuse me with facts\u201d\u2014how right wing populism affects trust in agencies advocating anthropogenic climate change as a reality

Everyday public denial of anthropogenically caused climate change (ACC) has complex antecedents and exists on both individual and institutional levels. Earlier research has linked ACC denial to opposition to formal science and elites, perceived threats to the industrialist capitalist order and existing system properties. Research also suggest that trust in public organizations is a key factor in determining support or opposition to climate change policies. In this paper, we explore the possibility that right wing populism and anti-elitist attitudes fuel both ACC denial and low trust in environmental institutions. We surveyed a representative sample of Norwegians (N = 3032) to measure ACC denial, how denial is linked to socio-demographic characteristics, trust in environmental institutions, attitudes toward elites and immigration, as well as environmental attitude orientations. Results show that lack of trust in environmental institutions is strongly associated with ACC denial, and furthermore that the degree of trust—or lack thereof—is partly a function of anti-elitist attitudes, opposition to migration and views of nature.

Advancing the Measurement of Authoritarianism

Popular support for ethnocentric, nationalistic politicians, parties, and policies around the world has renewed interest in authoritarianism. Measured by people’s preferences for certain desirable qualities in children, scholars have identified relationships between it and support for right wing populist parties and the ideas they champion. But despite authoritarianism’s unique ability to explain present political dynamics, scholars have devoted too little attention to this operationalization’s measurement properties. We address these and other issues here. We demonstrate that (1) the childrearing measure taps authoritarianism, (2) it is exogenous to a wide range of political attitudes, (3) its temporal stability is consistent with its conceptualization as a personality adaptation and (4) adding new items to the existing set improves our ability to measure authoritarianism. We thus provide scholars with a measure that better explains political opinions, which should allow future work to better identify when, how, and among whom authoritarianism explains political thinking.