A new coalition agreement in Austria highlights how bigoted, far-right policies are being embraced by mainstream political parties in Europe. The results of the elections to the European Parliament in May 2019 have caused great concern in the various national governments of EU member states as well as in the European organizations: Although expected by opinion-makers and… Continue reading “The Normalization Of Far-Right Populism In Europe”
Introduction A couple of weeks ago, Swiss art aficionados started to flock to Martigny in the canton of Valais. Martigny is a relatively small town. But it boasts an exquisite art museum, which over the years has hosted a number of remarkable exhibitions. This time, it is particularly special. For the first time, art lovers… Continue reading “Icons of the Radical Right: Christoph Blocher and the SVP”
Here in a special interview with the Discourses & Society journal, CARR Senior Fellow Professor Ruth Wodak talks about her research into right-wing populism and the radical right and how ‘discursive shifts’ have enabled this: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0957926519889109
This article is based on extracts from the following book: The politics of fear. What right-wing populist discourses mean (extracts). Ruth WODAK, 2015, Los Angeles / London / New Delhi / Singapore / Washington DC, SAGE. Are not all politicians populists? Don’t other politicians sometimes construct scapegoats and use similar rhetorical tropes as do… Continue reading “Analysing the Micro-Politics of Right-wing Populism”
Prioritising free speech above the harms that extreme speech may cause has dominated the moderation strategies of social media platforms. Note: This piece was originally published at Scroll.in as part of a series on Extreme Speech Online, edited by Sahana Udupa, Elonnai Hickok, and Edward Anderson. The author thanks organisers of a workshop in… Continue reading “Debate over regulating right-wing extreme speech online must shift to harms such speech can cause”
Even such huge scandals which lead to the dissolution of a government, resignation of a Vice-Chancellor and the disclosure of massive corruption, might conclude with more of the same. On 17 May 2019, at precisely 6pm, the German weekly Der Spiegeland the German broadsheet Die Süddeutsche Zeitung as well as the Austrian weekly Der Falter published a seven-minute video showing the… Continue reading “Austria’s Smoking Gun: Strache, “Ibiza-Gate”, and “Saint” Sebastian”
Unlike radical right-wing populism in Western Europe, Australia’s “Hansonism” is largely a one-woman show, almost completely dependent on Pauline Hanson’s personality and appeal. She has been called a “mischievous troublemaker, an “embarrassment” to the country, and just a plain racist. The referent of these diatribes is neither France’s Marine Le Pen nor Rocío Monasterio, the… Continue reading “Australia’s Own Brand of Radical Populism”
Conspiracy theories have frequently played a significant role in radical right ideologies, narratives, and agendas. In recent years, conspiracism linked to the radical right has made a striking and often deadly comeback. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump peppered his rally speeches with conspiracist claims, such as the assertion that Barack Obama founded ISIS.… Continue reading “The Hydra of Suspicion: Conspiracy Theories and the Radical Right”
Much has been written lately in regard to the electoral ‘rise’ of the populist radical right across European politics. Whilst it is true that the populist radical right has gained considerably in recent national parliamentary elections that span the refugee crisis (2015–2018) and outperformed centre left social democratic parties considerably. Much less attention has been… Continue reading “Beyond the Populist Radical Right: Centre Right Party Electoral Success on Immigration in the 21st Century”
This is a revised version of the acceptance speech of the leading Austrian discourse analysis scholar, for a ‘lifetime award’ from the Austrian Ministry for Women, Families & Youth. Speech. Honored guests, dear friends! Let me begin by saying – despite receiving a life-time award [1], I am certainly not going to stop working now, I will… Continue reading “Free spaces for thought and de-acceleration”