Nostalgic nationalism, welfare chauvinism, and migration anxieties in Central and Eastern Europe

This contribution examines, in the Central and Eastern European context, the interplay between ideals of national specificity, welfare chauvinist appeals, and emerging politics of migration, for the purpose of providing welfare provision to a narrowly defined ethnic group, as promoted by right-wing populist parties in the region. We suggest a comparative framework to account the various positions that such parties occupy in the mainstream political systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Our study deals with the case of a right-wing populist party becoming the main governing force, such as the Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) in Poland; the case of a right-wing populist party as key opposition force, such as the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom, Jobbik) in Hungary; and thirdly, the case of an unsuccessful right-wing populist party, such as the United Romania Party (Partidul România Unită, PRU). For our qualitative analysis we are drawing on the official discourses of these parties as articulated from 2015 onwards, since it marks the beginning of what has come to be referred to as the European refugee crisis. The aim of this chapter is to map out the various electoral strategies employed, with varying degrees of success, which juxtapose cultural protectionist appeals to welfare chauvinist proposals, and consequently shed light on the culture and welfare nexus in the Central and Eastern European context

The Discursive Denial of Racism by Finnish Populist Radical Right Politicians Accused of Anti-Muslim Hate-Speech

This chapter explores Finnish populist radical right politicians’ discursive denials of racism against Muslims following the 2015 European “refugee crisis”. The critical discursive psychological analysis of the politicians’ Facebook accounts identifies four ways in which racism was denied: first, through constructing the statements as mere displays of undisputable facts and common-sense; second, through personal narratives and ontological gerrymandering that acted as ‘proof’ of the politician’s non-racist disposition; third, through transferring the discussion from issues about race to concern matters of cultural threats; and, fourth, through reversing racism to the politicians’ political antagonists. The analyses show that in their discursive denial of racist hate-speech against Muslims, the Finnish politicians relied more on cultural arguments than welfare-protectionist ones. That is, the denials were primarily warranted through nostalgic references to Finnish national identity, people and values, and rhetorical promises that the hope of saving these rests on resisting the cultural threat posed by Islam.Peer reviewe

Civil Society Between Populism and Anti-populism

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the activities of civil society formations in the European political environment. It argues that the long-established ethos of inclusionary civil society groups is undergoing a redefinition. Moralized ideational constructs such as "community", "belonging" and "solidarity", which have traditionally been associated with a cosmopolitan, tolerant conception of the role of civil society, are undergoing a process of redefinition. An individualistic, nationalist, exclusionary and socially conservative conception of civil society is emerging. The chapter frames the contrast between rival images of civil society through a movement–counter-movement dynamic, which opposes a populist and an anti-populist bloc. It interprets them with reference to studies of "civil" and "uncivil" society and provides a typology of their roles and values

Trouble in the Homeland : How Cultual Identity and Welfare Politics Merge in Contemporary Danish and Swedish Politics

This chapter examines differences in the discourses on migration from two socio-economically similar countries—Denmark and Sweden. It employs the notion of conventional discourse to show how cultural identity and welfare politics intersect in the policy debates and blogospheres of the two countries. It also shows that a discursive shift had already occurred in the mainstream political discourse in Denmark before the 2015 refugee crisis—a discourse in which the dominant view is that cultural diversity is incompatible with social cohesion and thus a perceived threat to the welfare system. The same line of thinking is prevalent in Denmark’s blogosphere. In contrast, Sweden’s cultural issues have been consistently associated with redistributive policies in the mainstream political discourse, and these vary along the Left versus Right ideological cleavage. However, in Sweden’s blogosphere, welfare chauvinism and opposition to multiculturalism appear to be equally as strong as in Denmark

Mental Health Literacy of Maternal and Paternal Postnatal Depression in a Community Sample of Romanian Adults

Postnatal depression affects a large proportion of Romanian parents, but no existing research has examining knowledge of postnatal depression in Romanian adults. To rectify this, we examined the ability of Romanian adults to correctly identify cases of maternal and paternal postnatal depression, as well as attitudes towards cases of postnatal depression. A total of 1,248 Romanian adults were presented with vignettes describing cases of maternal or paternal postnatal depression. Based on the vignettes, participants were asked to report if they thought anything was wrong with the targets and, if so, to describe what they thought was wrong. Participants also rated the targets on a several attitudinal dimensions. Participants were more likely to indicate that something was wrong when the target was female (67.9%) compared to male (46.4%). Of those who believed something was wrong, 57.7% of participants correctly described the female target as experiencing postnatal depression, but only 37.1% did so for the male target. Women held significantly more positive attitudes toward the targets than men, particularly when the target was female. Mental health literacy of postnatal depression appears to be poor in Romanian adults compared to other national groups, especially in the case of paternal postnatal depression

Nostalgia and Hope: Narrative Master Frames Across Contemporary Europe

After the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War, a certain sense of optimism swept across Europe. Some 25 years later, everything seems radically different. With the considerable inroads made into mainstream politics by right-wing populist parties across the continent, there is no shortage of gloom and worry. Nevertheless, despite numerous examples of retrogressive forms of mobilization, there are also many cases of progressive mobilization. To capture this dynamic complexity, we posit politics as a site of struggle that constitutes an arena for the conflicting demands of the two master frames of nostalgia and hope. Following this logic of a polarized political terrain, the volume is divided into three parts that address both right-wing populist politics across Europe (Part I) and politics beyond party politics through either retrogressive mobilization (Part II) or emancipatory initiatives (Part III)