‘I want my sovereignty back!’ A comparative analysis of the populist discourses of Podemos, the 5 Star Movement, the FN and UKIP during the economic and migration crises

Abstract

The multiple crises that the EU has faced over the last decade have provided fertile ground for the emergence of new political movements, often labelled as 'anti-system', 'populist' and 'Eurosceptics'. One defining characteristic of these parties is their claim to represent 'the people' and their reliance on the idea of sovereignty. This article aims at examining how these populist parties have framed sovereignty in relation to the economic and migration crises. It argues that the binary opposition between EU integration and national sovereignty does not tell the whole story, and that the populist upsurge reflects instead competing versions of sovereignty at the national level. To test this hypothesis, we conduct a corpus-based analysis of the discourse of four leading populist parties between 2012 and 2017: the Front National, the UK Independence Party, the Movimento cinque Stelle and Podemos.

Studying European Radical Left Parties since the Fall of the Berlin Wall (1990–2019): A Scoping Review

“…The analysis of the political communication and discourse of RLPs has concentrated on the populist discourse of parties like SYRIZA or Podemos (e.g. Borriello & Brack, 2019), but could also be extended to other discursive aspects relevant for the radical left, such as the aforementioned class appeals and anti‐capitalism.…”

“…Some recent studies have also analyzed party webpages and social media, although still in a very limited way (e.g. Borriello & Brack, 2019; Oates, 2012). Around 9% of articles do not use any empirical data ( ‘no specific source’ ) and are primarily based on reflections by the authors.…”

The Five Star MoVement and its challenge to the pluralistic foundations of Italian democracy

“…The change of alliance and the evolution occurred resulted in significant changes in M5S' attitude towards political discussion. The 2018-2019 government was based on a confrontational relationship with EU institutions, in the name of a panoply of sovereignist claims and with a view to renationalising policies against the budgetary constraints deriving from EU membership (Borriello and Brack 2019). In 2019 several factors contributed to a deep change in the attitude of M5S.The results of the EP elections showed a great victory of the League whereas the percentage of M5S dropped (from 33% during the general elections in 2018 to 17%).…”