Populism and the Italian right

Abstract

This paper documents and analyses how populist discourse was used in very different ways by political entrepreneurs of the Italian right, leading to three specific manifestations. The empirical range of populist ideologies is identified through a frame analysis of party materials and connected to the varying political and cultural opportunities of different kinds of parties. However, it is argued that at the same time a common reliance on some common populist tenets constituted an innovative strategy of the Italian right, and that as an ideology one of it's distinctive functions has been to act as a conceptual glue in a coalition which would otherwise be deeply internally divided.

“They Did It”: The Effects of Emotionalized Blame Attribution in Populist Communication

“…Populists attribute blame using an emotional communication style (Fieschi & Heywood, 2004; Ruzza & Fella, 2011). By emphasizing that the enemies (e.g., the corrupt elites of the EU and the national government) are creeping upon the heartland (Finlay, 2007), the emotional style of populist messages instills a sense of threat on the people.…”

“…Populist communication draws on anger to emphasize that the culprit elites are blocking the goals of the people (Grant & Brown, 1995; Ruzza & Fella, 2011). Fear is used to highlight uncertainty about the threatening future of the heartland, which is in a state of crisis because the corrupt elites failed to represent the people (Mols & Jetten, 2014).…”

“…By highlighting the purity of the people and by referring to the establishment as culprit, populism is inherently about attributing blame to others while absolving the people of responsibility. Populist messages attribute blame using a highly emotionalized style, emphasizing anger and fear toward threatening political elites (Fieschi & Heywood, 2004; Mudde, 2004; Ruzza & Fella, 2011). Reasoned from this perspective, the populist core idea distinguishes itself from mainstream politics by emotionally blaming elites (e.g., “Europe” or national governments) for causing the problems of the heartland (Stanley, 2008; Vasilopoulou et al, 2013).…”

The Appeal of Media Populism: The Media Preferences of Citizens with Populist Attitudes

“…This causal and moral relationship is vertically defined in the first dimension of populist attitudes: antiestablishment. People who interpret reality from this dimension construct the other vertically as the corrupt political elites who have betrayed the people's will (Ruzza & Fella, 2011).…”

“We Are Against Islam!”

“…The latter has a political component made up by socialist, Christian democrats and 4 SAGE Open liberals, which has depended on the charisma of its former leader Silvio Berlusconi for a measure of its political success. All of Berlusconi's political proclamations express a form of populism which is not territorial or ethnical, but based on antipolitical and antiparty messages (Ruzza & Fella, 2011) and the pride of being Italian, hence the name of the party that he founded Forza Italia (Go Italy); this populism is more confined to his favored mode of communication and its appeal to the vices and virtues of every Italian.The LN can also be considered a nativist movement (Hague, Giordano, & Sebesta, 2005). Nativism originated in 19th-century United States as a reaction to growing European immigration (Betz & Meret, 2009).…”