Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse.

• Author: Selvin, Erdem
• Position: Book review

Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse

Edited by Ruth Wodak, Majid KhosraviNik and Brigitte Mral

London: Bioomsbury Academic, 2013, 334 pages, $30,00, ISBN: 9781780932453

Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse, edited by Ruth Wodak, Majid KhosraviNik and Brigitte Mral, compiles theoretically and methodologically rich articles analyzing the rise of radical right movements, discourses and political parties in Europe. More than twenty scholars with different academic backgrounds focus on examples of right-wing populisms (RWP) in different socio-political and cultural contexts. Addressing the histories of these movements, the studies pay attention to the nativist and revisionist ideologies and racist rhetoric influenced by the current neo-Nazi movement and various social processes after WWII. The collection of articles fundamentally scrutinizes the organization of RWP parties including their political leadership, the network of right-extremism, political communication strategies focusing on their reliance on media-savvy democracy, their discriminatory immigration policy proposals, and their anti-elitist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic discourses that feed the politics of fear on a global scale. The book offers a broad framework with which to analyze the various ideologies, notions and structural factors that lead to the social changes which support RWP in Europe and beyond.

The book has four sections exploring the democratic systems that open the way for RWP parties to enter into parliaments. The first section offers a theoretical, philosophical and ethical discussion and conceptualization of the extreme right in Europe and the U.S.. Through comparing the similarities and differences on the meaning of populism (which does not have a clear-cut definitions), democracy and nationalism, the studies emphasize the effective functioning of RW discourses in society. Although they are classified as theoretical studies, the essays are better described as brief analyses of the political repertoire of RWP parties, such as the Austrian FPO, Italian LN, Greek LAOS, French FN, Dutch PVV and Swiss SVP. The studies introduce the construction of social differences and 'us and them' distinctions through the rhetorical mechanisms and discourses and the manipulative agenda-setting techniques of RWP parties, the reasons for their electoral success, the connection between fascism and contemporary RWP, the anti-Islam debate in Europe...