The anti-authoritarian revolt: Right-wing populism as self-empowerment?

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843102110271
Author(s):  
Torben Lütjen
Keyword(s):  
Political Leadership ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ultimate Source ◽  
Right Wing Populism

Right-wing populism and authoritarianism are often thought to be closely linked to each other: conceptually, ideologically, historically. This article challenges that assumption by reinterpreting right-wing populism as an essentially anti-authoritarian movement. Right-wing populism diverges from the clearly authoritarian movements of the past, such as classic conservatism and fascism, in at least two important ways: first, it follows a distinctive epistemology with a different idea what constitutes the truth and who has access to it. Second, populism has a peculiar understanding of the ultimate source of political authority and the function of political leadership. My article shows how right-wing populists pursue a project of self-empowerment and appropriate notions of emancipation and autonomy for their own narrative.

scholarly journals Cultures of rejection at work: Investigating the acceptability of authoritarian populism

Ethnicities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146879682110124
Author(s):  
Alexander Harder ◽  
Benjamin Opratko
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Authoritarian Populism ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article introduces the concept of cultures of rejection as a framing device to investigate conditions of acceptability of authoritarian populism among workers in Germany and Austria. After situating the concept in the current scholarly debate on right-wing populism and discussing its main theoretical points of reference, we offer an analysis focusing on experiences of crisis and transformation. Two elements of cultures of rejection are discussed in depth: the rejection of racialised and/or culturalised ‘unproductive’ others; and the rejection of the public sphere, linked to the emergence of a ‘shielded subjectivity’. These articulations of rejection are then discussed as related to two dimensions of a crisis of authority: the crisis of state or political authority in the field of labour and the economy; and the crisis of a moral order, experienced as decline in social cohesion. In conclusion, we identify possible avenues for further research, demonstrating the productivity of the conceptual framework of cultures of rejection.

Brexit and Euroskepticism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Wind
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
World Order ◽  
First Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Member States ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Project ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Eu

Doomsdays preachers suggested that Brexit and Trump would mean the end of the liberal world order as we know it and thus the end of the EU. The research presented here suggests the opposite. Not only have Europeans turned their back to populism by voting yes to reforms and pro-EU-parties and governments in different member states over the past months, but Brexit and Trump also seems to have given a complete new momentum to the European project. This chapter demonstrates why Brexit cannot be generalized to the rest of the continent but is the result of a complicated and special British conception of what it means to be a sovereign state in the twenty-first century. Moreover, and paradoxically, surveys show that the greatest fear among Europeans today is not more European integration but right wing populism and European disunion.

The Two Faces of Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe

1993 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Georg Betz
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Party Group

During the past several years, radical right-wing populist parties have made impressive electoral gains in a growing number of West European countries. Their dramatic surge to political prominence has obscured the fact that these parties hardly form a homogeneous party group. Generally, it is possible to distinguish between neo-liberal and national populist parties. Both types of parties are a response to the profound economic, social, and cultural transformation of advanced societies interpreted as a transition from industrial welfare to postindustrial individualized capitalism. National populist parties are primarily working-class parties which espouse a radically xenophobic and authoritarian program. Neoliberal parties appeal to a mixed social constituency and tend to stress the marketoriented, libertarian elements of their program over xenophobic ones. Rather than being mere short-lived protest phenomena, radical right-wing populist parties are a reflection and expression of new political conflicts created by the transition to postindustrial capitalism.

scholarly journals Right-wing populism’s (ab)use of the past in Italy and the Netherlands

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Stefan Couperus ◽  
Pier Domenico Tortola
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Exploratory Analysis ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Deep Insight ◽  
The Past ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Insight Into

Historical analysis is increasingly used as a tool in the study of present-day populism in Europe. The past is often explored as a source of analogies through which to examine today’s populism, and at other times in search of causal mechanisms to explain the current populist wave. In this paper we focus on a third kind of link between populism and the past, namely the ways populist movements and leaders use and abuse history and historical memory in their quest for mass support. This angle on the populism/history nexus can yield deep insight into the ideological make-up of these movements and their voters, and populism’s discursive dynamics and strategies.Focusing on contemporary right-wing populism and its approach to the dark past of European countries, the paper conducts an exploratory analysis that posits three ways in which the past is (ab)used by populists: (a) the positive reassessment of dark history; (b) the recourse to fake history; (c) the evocation and subsequent denial of links with the dark past. In examining each, we use examples taken from the cases of Italy and The Netherlands to check the plausibility of our categories across different national cases. 

scholarly journals Trends and Disparities in Subjective Upward Mobility since 1940

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802312095113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thor Berger ◽  
Per Engzell
Keyword(s):  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
The Past ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Drug And Alcohol

Concerns that prospects for upward mobility are fading are common in popular and scientific discourse. The fact that fewer Americans today surpass their parents’ economic status than in the past has been invoked to explain trends ranging from the recent spike in drug and alcohol poisonings to the growing appeal of right-wing populism. Using General Social Survey data, the authors ask whether people actually feel that their standard of living is falling short of that of previous generations. In contrast to data on income, education, or occupation, a majority still perceive that they have attained a higher standard of living than their parents. At the same time, mobility experiences are becoming increasingly polarized: subjective upward mobility is rising among highly educated, minority, and urban populations and declining among less educated and rural populations.

scholarly journals Strategic clustering in right-wing-populism? ‘Green policies’ in Germany and France

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Oswald ◽  
Meike Fromm ◽  
Elena Broda
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Empirical Reality ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
The Past ◽  
Environmental Strategies ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Right Wing Populism

AbstractPast research pointed to the idea that right-wing ideology and climate-change skepticism are inherently linked. Empirical reality proves differently however, since right-wing populist parties are starting to adapt pro environmentalist stances. In this paper, we look into two prominent cases of diametrical diverging environmental strategies by right-wing-populist-parties: France’s Rassemblement National and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland. In order convey this point, we use comparative qualitative content analysis and examine several decisive determinants regarding environmental strategies of right-wing populist parties. We argue that right-wing-populism is remarkably adaptable considering political opportunity structures, even clustering in ideologically diametrical versions of the same issue while each party coherently extends its policy-orientation to its respective alignment of the issue. That means, populism might be far less ideological than assumed in the past.

Politische Bildung in Zeiten des Rechtspopulismus

2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73
Author(s):  
Michael Görtler
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peace Education ◽  
Political Education ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Politische Bildung ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
A Current

Abstract Political Education in Times of right-wing Populism. Pedagogical and Didactical Approaches to Deal with a current Threat to Peace Right-wing populism challenges the societies in Europe. The rise of such movements and parties are a threat to peace and democracy in Germany. This article focuses the possibilities as well as the boundaries of political education under the current circumstances. To this end, it discusses theoretical explanations based on approaches in peace education, political didactics and social sciences to deal with right-wing populism in practice.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet O'Shea
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Fair Play ◽  
Competitive Sports ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physical Play ◽  
The World ◽  
Right Wing Populism

This section contends with a central irony: Americans are among the most competitive people in the world, and yet we are among the least likely to play competitive sports in adulthood. This exercise gap is usually treated as a public health problem; the goal of this section is to treat it as a social and cultural concern. The conclusion therefore investigates the social and political implications of an American tendency to outsource physical play to experts: higher levels of fear, increased preoccupation with success at all costs, decreased creativity, and increasing rigidity of perspective and position. Specifically, the conclusion maintains that a neglect of fair play has dire consequences for democracy, a suggestion born out by the recent swing toward right-wing populism in politics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document