Tuesday, June 25, 2013
A1.18C (Oudemanhuispoort)
Post-Fordist Europe has witnessed the rise to political influence of right-wing populist political formations that are grounded in nativist and cultural protectionist discourses, while advancing a politics that speaks in the name of ‘the people’ and that opposes itself to the establishment. This paper examines this process in the context of the Netherlands, by focusing on populist discourses and imaginaries concerning European integration, the eurocrisis, and labor immigration from Eastern Europe. These discourses and imaginaries denote a (partial) shift in political priorities among the populists from anti-Muslim rhetorics and politics to anti-European protectionism and welfare chauvinism. We are especially interested in the conjuncture between culturalist and nationalist idioms with socio-economic discourses and images. By means of this analysis, we contribute to a better understanding on the relationship between neoliberalism, European integration, and nativist populism in the Netherlands, and in Europe in more general terms.
