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From 'Nation Europe' to 'Brussels': Europe in Far Right Ideology

European Politics
Nationalism
Political Parties
Euroscepticism
Political Ideology
Marta Lorimer
The London School of Economics & Political Science
Marta Lorimer
The London School of Economics & Political Science

Abstract

Scholars of parties have approached the EU from a variety of angles, however, one aspect has often been left on the side: the way in which ideology shapes conceptions of Europe. While some work has focused for example on how left/right poisoning influences positions on EU integration (Hooghe et al. 2002), how Socialist Parties positioned themselves vis-a-vis European integration (Featherstone 1988) or how Christian Democratic parties have sought to shape the European construction (Kaiser 2007), we still know very little about how parties approach ‘Europe’ as an ideological issue. This paper seeks to contribute to literature on the ideological construction of Europe by exploring far right parties’ conception of Europe. Looking specifically at how the Italian Social Movement (MSI), and its successor parties Alleanza Nazionale (AN) and Movimento Sociale - Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT), and the French Front National (FN) have defined Europe, it seeks to answer the following research question: How have far right parties inserted Europe in their ideological frames? What concepts have they mobilized to ‘make sense of’ Europe and explain positions on what is often considered a disruptive issue? Through the qualitative analysis of manifestoes, programmes, grey literature, party newspapers and magazines produced between 1979 and 2014, this paper suggests that far right parties mobilize the same central concepts of Identity and Liberty to define what Europe is. Because these ideals are perceived as being threatened, their assessment of the European Union as a political project and their normative views of what it should ideally be are dependent on the extent to which ‘Europe’ is considered as a form of protection or enhancement for them.