Identity Politics in (Anti-)Populist and Radical Discourse

Abstract

In today's societal-political landscape we see the spreading phenomenon of populism that shows itself stronger than in much of recent time. One of the distinctive patterns of populist discourse is its focus on dividing ‘us’ from ‘them’ and utilisation of the strategies of othering, and therefore engaging in identity politics. However, as the original definitions of populism (Mudde 2004, 543) stress the antagonism between people and elites within the national context. We extend this opposition to include the supranational level and explore how the contestation of globalisation (and Europeanisation) feeds the contemporary populist and radical discourse. The proposed panel will focus on analysing the underlying dynamics of how collective identities take shape and are used in populist and radical discourse as well as how they are also instrumentalised in combating the populist constructions. In order to understand current developments in (anti-)populism and how identity plays a key role there, we aim to inquire into discourse, key narratives and themes, appeals to and rejections of identities, identification and differentiation processes. The panel presents papers that deal with these and related questions both in a conceptual and empirical manner.