Constructing the Nation in Crisis-Ridden Europe: The Gendered Dimension of Nationalist Populist Discourses

This paper explores current discursive constructions of nationalist populism in Europe, with particular focus on France, Germany and Poland. It argues that a nationalist form of populism, which identifies the ‘people’ with the Christian ethnic nation (and thus excludes immigrants, ethnic, religious and other minorities), has been on the rise in most of the continent. The economic and refugee crises and terrorist attacks have acted as important catalyzers. Nationalist populists have redefined the ‘people’ and the nation around a nucleus of predominantly male blue- and white-collar workers, seemingly focusing on constituencies that have been particularly affected by the economic crisis, and who often perceive their residual economic well-being as being threatened by the competition of underpaid migrant workers. Hence, it is argued that the intersectionality of gender, class, ethnicity and religion is essential in order to explain the rise of nationalist populism. The paper pays particular attention to the gender regimes that are constructed in nationalist populist discourses, notably the role they assign to women. Nationalist populist discourses offer visions of redeeming hegemonic masculinity, as they stem primarily from male perceptions of humiliation linked to the weakening of their patriarchal role as breadwinners and their general disempowerment due to the economic crisis. The response to these perceptions includes two main ways of reclaiming patriarchal status. One involves the claim to defend women and the Christian family from a constructed threatening Other, of different nation and religion. The other advocates the creation of a welfare state governed by a nationalist logic, which provides social security exclusively to the patriarchal, ethnic nation (welfare chauvinism). The paper argues that the appeal of nationalist populism is closely linked to these constructions.