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Does a Nexus Exist? : Right-wing Populist Narratives on Migration and Voting Patterns within Four Member States of the European Union

This thesis analyzes the correlation between right-wing populist narratives on migration and voting patterns within the European Union. It is argued that recurrent thematic and rhetorical strategies embedded with right-wing populist features are prominent throughout politicians’ discourses. To allow a complex discussion, this thesis utilizes three poststructuralist concepts, including Michel Foucault’s discourse, power/knowledge approaches, and Jacques Derrida’s conception of deconstruction. To provide a comprehensive yet narrow insight into the topic, the theoretical framework is combined with the qualitative content analysis methodology, allowing a systemic analysis of Italy, Sweden, Hungary, and France between 2017-2024. Moreover, the data selection includes politicians’ narratives and secondary data from the latest national elections within the four member states. This provides a complex overview of how rhetorics frame migration as a national ‘threat’, include anti-elitist statements, and legitimize the willingness to reduce it. Therefore, the findings underline that narratives on migration are embedded with the power/knowledge nexus and the dichotomy of ‘us’ versus the ‘others’, producing a sentiment of fear that can be correlated to voting patterns. The recurrent use of discursive strategies and similar voting behavior demonstrates that the right-wing populist narrative phenomenon is a transnational practice.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68766
Date January 2024
CreatorsAndervåll, Teodora
PublisherMalmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS)
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
RelationMalmö Studies in Global Politics

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