Guest Lecture Ruth Breeze
Nationalism and populism on the radical right: discursive approaches to populist claims and style
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Online)
16.3.21
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Online)
16.3.21
On 16 March 2021 Ruth Breeze will give a lecture on nationalism and populism on the radical right, discussing how we can study populist performances from a more linguistic perspective. The lecture is followed by ample time for debate, moderated by Benjamin De Cleen (VUB).
The event takes place online from 13h-15h, and is open to everyone after registration through this link. The Zoom-link to attend the lecture will be sent out on the morning of the lecture.
The event takes place online from 13h-15h, and is open to everyone after registration through this link. The Zoom-link to attend the lecture will be sent out on the morning of the lecture.
Much previous research on right-wing populist parties in Europe has concentrated on what they share, and has failed to problematise the term “populist.” This research sets out from one proposed distinction between populism and nationalism, comparing the discourses of two relatively under-researched parties: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Analysis of the way these two parties operationalise both a vertical (populist) and horizontal (nationalist) axis brings out some differences, as well as major areas of overlap. The conclusions suggest that such parties activate hostility to elites (populism) in order to destabilise the political landscape, while boosting support for anti-migrant and anti-EU stances (nationalism). The vertical axis is particularly powerful because it exploits pre-existing sources of resentment or suspicion and enables the people to be positioned as “victims,” thereby legitimating their attacks on “others” who threaten the people's space.
Ruth Breeze is Associate Professor of English at the University of Navarra, Spain, and PI of the GradUN Research Group in the Instituto Cultura y Sociedad. Her most recent books are “Corporate Discourse” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015) and the co-edited volumes “Interpersonality in Legal Genres” (Peter Lang, 2014), “Power, Persuasion and Manipulation in Specialised Genres” (Peter Lang, 2017), and “Imagining the Peoples of Europe: Populist Discourses across the Political Spectrum” (John Benjamins, 2019).
Ruth Breeze is Associate Professor of English at the University of Navarra, Spain, and PI of the GradUN Research Group in the Instituto Cultura y Sociedad. Her most recent books are “Corporate Discourse” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015) and the co-edited volumes “Interpersonality in Legal Genres” (Peter Lang, 2014), “Power, Persuasion and Manipulation in Specialised Genres” (Peter Lang, 2017), and “Imagining the Peoples of Europe: Populist Discourses across the Political Spectrum” (John Benjamins, 2019).
This event is organized as part of the course “Populist and Radical Political Discourses in Europe”, taught by Benjamin De Cleen in the Journalism and Media in Europe Master.
Other guest lecturers in the series:
Other guest lecturers in the series:
- Giorgos Katsambekis: populism and ‘the people’: beyond moralism and homogeneity (9 March)
- Jacopo Custodi: nationalism and populism in Podemos (23 March)
- Léonie de Jonge: the media and the populist radical right (30 March)
- Jana Goyvaerts: media and populism: defending what kind of democracy? (20 April)
- Katy Brown & Aurelien Mondon: media, populism and the mainstreaming of the radical right (27 April)
- Louise Knops: media, populism, indignation: insights from the radical-right (4 May)