Nordic populists as hegemony challengers

Nationalism, populism or peopleism? Clarifying the distinction through a two‐dimensional lens

“…Populism has been defined as a ‘discursive repertoire’ or a sedimented range of significations of the ‘people’ (De Cleen & Stavrakakis, 2017, 2020), as a signifier in discourses about populism (De Cleen, Glynos & Mondon, 2018; Dean & Maiguashca, 2020), as a discursive frame (Aslanidis, 2016), or as a signifier articulated by different political camps (Dean & Maiguashca, 2020; Mondon & Winter, 2020). This tradition includes an emphasis on left‐wing populism and its productive component for democracy (Custodi, 2021; Eklundh, 2019, 2020; Katsambekis & Kioupkiolis, 2019; Prentoulis, 2021; Stavrakakis et al, 2016) but also on right‐wing populist movements and parties (De Cleen, Glynos, and Mondon 2021; Glynos & Mondon, 2019; Palonen & Sunnercrantz, 2021). Some address performative aspects of populist politics, like ‘strong,’ mostly male, leadership (Casullo, 2020; Moffitt, 2016; Szebeni & Salojärvi, 2022; Vulović, 2022) or even technocratic leaders (Hartikainen, 2021).…”

“…The dynamics of performing an ‘us’ are heightened by affects, which inevitably involves exclusion outside antagonistic political frontiers, also heightened by affects (Palonen, 2020, 2021). Laclau's key concept of populism, which we understand ontologically, can be captured in the formula previously introduced by Palonen (2020) and Palonen and Sunnercrantz (2021): $$$$ \mathrm{Populism}={\mathrm{Us}}^{\mathrm{Affect}1}+{\mathrm{Frontier}}^{\mathrm{Affect}2} $$$$ The poststructuralist formula manifests the linguistic and psychoanalytical roots of the theory. The ‘+’ in the formula would not signify a mere addition, but co‐presence.…”

“…The dynamics of performing an 'us' are heightened by affects, which inevitably involves exclusion outside antagonistic political frontiers, also heightened by affects (Palonen, 2020(Palonen, , 2021). Laclau's key concept of populism, which we understand ontologically, can be captured in the formula previously introduced by Palonen (2020) and Palonen and Sunnercrantz (2021):…”

“…Here, we show how, ontologically, populism can be understood as a logic with a particular form, but empty of content: a logic of us-building through drawing affective political antagonistic frontiers Palonen, 2020;Palonen & Sunnercrantz, 2021) by extending chains of equivalence between demands, grievances or ideas. This logic is constitutive of many political and ideological projects, such as nationalism, fascism, authoritarianism, racism or even liberal democracy.…”

Conceptualising Europe from the far right: The mobilisation of intellectual heritage in Germany

“…Ideologically, far-right actors typically imagine Europe as a specific civilisation (Brubaker, 2017) that is defined by its common cultural heritage (Blokker, this issue;De Cesari et al, 2020). Based on the antagonistic articulation of 'Us vs Them' distinctions constitutive for populist discourse (Palonen and Sunnercrantz, 2021), they define 'European civilisation' via its alleged opposition to Islamic culture (Betz, 2007;Betz and Meret, 2009;Hafez, 2014).…”