📣New article📣

'There is no such thing as 'right-wing populism.' Check it out below!

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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Although anti-populism has a place for ‘the people’ through nominally democratic processes of voting and peaceful protest against ‘populism’, it ultimately aims at the restoration of responsible elite rule: government for the people, rather than of or by them

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

This article shows how the meaning of ‘European values’ is produced in response to the perceived threat of ‘populism’ and highlights the ways in which anti-populist discourse can obscure the complicity of Europe's liberal mainstream in the very exclusions it attributes to ‘populist’ actors.

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In turn, the Commission reinforces the fantasy that, because of its adherence to ‘European values’, it stands as a bulwark against exclusionary politics.

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Consequently, this exceptionalisation conceals the EU's own exclusionary practices, particularly regarding migration policy, shifting attention away from the Union's failures to uphold its stated principles.

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‘Populism’ is exceptionalised as closed, divisive and reactionary, in contrast to the inclusionary nature of open, unifying and progressive ‘European values’.

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By combining collocation analysis with a discursive-architectonic approach to discourse analysis, I suggest that the Commission's anti-populism produces an inclusionary/exclusionary binary through a set of spatial metaphors.

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In this paper in @jcms-eu.bsky.social, I analyse the anti-populist discourse of the European Commission to see how they construct 'European values' by using 'populism' as their constitutive outside.

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‘This Is Not Europe’: Investigating the Commission's Anti‐Populist Articulation of ‘European Values’ Whilst ‘populism’ is often considered antithetical to ‘European values’, how this contrast shapes the very meaning of such ‘values’ remains underexplored. This article investigates the European Commi...

📣New publication📣

'‘This Is Not Europe’: Investigating the Commission's Anti-Populist Articulation of ‘European Values’'

or how the Commission constructs the threat of 'populism' to deflect from its own exclusionary policies and discourses

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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It's definitley most prominent there! I argue it is at work indirectly in the other frames as these support the atrophying liberal hegemony which has been unable to arrest the rise of the far right.

Good question! Focus on ideology, not the 'populist' discourse or style. The problem isn't 'populism', it's far-right racism and authoritarianism. In a nutshell, don't be anti-populist, be anti-fascist!

Table of anti-populist frames.

I claim that these frames are demophobic in their mistrust of popular political participations and help to, counterintuitively, embolden reactionary politics by reproducing the very (‘populist’) far-right discourses on migration and nationhood which anti-populists claim to oppose.

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Finally, the epistemic frame sees ‘populism’ as appealing to emotions over rationality. This means that voters must be educated on the dangers of ‘populism’, and anti-populist politicians must defend rationality and use plain language to win back ‘populism’-prone voters.

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The cultural frame accuses ‘populists’ of being nationalistic and xenophobic. The proposed solution is to control immigration and reclaim patriotism.

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In the economic frame, ‘populism’ is portrayed as economically irresponsible. For, anti-populists, economic growth and reduction in economic inequality are needed to defeat ‘populism’, though these policies must stay within the bounds of fiscally responsible spending.

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The political frame casts ‘populism’ as authoritarian, arguing that – in response – voters must elect ‘responsible’ and ‘measured’ politicians such that liberal-democratic norms are protected.

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In this paper I analyse a corpus of newspaper opinion pieces, academic books and popular non-fiction from the UK and US contexts (2014–2024). Through a mixed-methods frame analysis, I identify four dominant frames: political, economic, cultural and epistemic.

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📣New publication 📣

'A Cure for ‘Populism’? Diagnostic and Prognostic Framing in Anti-Populist Political Punditry' in @psrjournal.bsky.social.

In this paper, I show how the 'cures' prescribed by anti-populists are elite-centric and embolden reactionary politics.

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doi.org/10.1177/1478...

The Bath branch of @reacpolrn.bsky.social has put together a policy study on the progressive strategies needed to halt the mainstreaming of the far right. Check it out below 👇

This is sure to be a great event. For anyone interested in decolonial studies, feminist thought, democratic theory, psychoanalysis, or (anti-)populism make sure you sign up to this hybrid book launch below!

So excited about the launch of our two new publications at @reacpolrn.bsky.social. For critical interventions which deal with questions of resistance and strategy in the global reactionary moment, please consider submitting your work to Red Lines.

reacpol.net/red-lines/

Headline: Populist threat to rule of law a danger to UK working class, says attorney general Richard Hermer to aim criticism at Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick at Labour conference event

It really shouldn't have to be said anymore but "populism" is not the threat, it's a diversion away from the threat and crucially from the systemic nature of the issue we are facing

In doing so, it also legitimises the far right

UK Home Office tells parents their children should return to Brazil alone While Ana Luiza Cabral Gouveia and Hugo Barbosa can remain, letter says sons, 11 and eight, must go back to Brazil

It's not only Trump: The Home Office under Starmer and Cooper is tearing families apart just like ICE.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

This was a pleasure to be involved with last year. Sign up for this free(!), hybrid summer school on critical approaches to the study of reactionary politics. Deadlines for applications 15th July.

Nope! This week has been a full-throated embrace by Starmer of the racism that has been immanent in mainstream discourse on migration for decades. 'Populism' has precisely nothing to do with it.

"Instead of popular sovereignty, for anti-populism, democratic desires should be repressed for the common good: the return of depoliticised enjoyment for all."

RPRN statement on the Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act - Reactionary Politics Research Network The RPRN stands in solidarity with trans and non-binary people and believes that it is the responsibility of researchers and academics to hold our institutions to account to defend trans equality and ...

Our statement on the UK Supreme Court's ruling on the Equality Act. We stand in solidarity with trans and non-binary people and believe that it is the responsibility of researchers to hold our institutions to account to defend trans equality and dignity.

reacpol.net/supreme-cour...

Our final #PSA25 panel—held in partnership with Italian Politics SG—wraps up with a sharp discussion on populism and economic elites. Chaired by Vladimir Borden, with papers by Adam Dinsmore, @lauramontecchio.bsky.social, @alexyates2000.bsky.social, Reid Kleinberg & Lorenzo Ghiduci.

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You can find the full article, which this blog is based on, below!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

If you haven't joined @reacpolrn.bsky.social already, you can sign up below. It's a great community of supportive scholars dedicated to the critical study of reactionary politics.
reacpol.net