Sovereignist wine in populist bottles? An introduction

Abstract

Sovereignist claims are on the risein Europe, the USA, and beyond. In dealing with processes such as globalization and supranational integration, which have progressively shifted powers and competencies away from nation states, these transformations have created a fertile terrain for reactions against the sources of such insecurity, which find full expression in the sovereignist claims to 'take back control', that is to say to return to the traditional understanding of sovereignty being based upon mutually exclusive territories. These sources of insecurity and social unrest have also provided structures of political opportunity for the electoral success of populist parties. Despite its relevance for the understanding of the populist discourse, however, sovereignty has been largely under-theorised by scholars dealing with populism. Accordingly, we propose a new research agenda to study populist mobilization that focuses on the linkage between populism and sovereignism, while also encouraging further theoretical and empirical studies, focusing on both the demand side and the supply side. In particular, we suggest some crucial aspects with which the Special Issue seeks to engage, before pointing to some substantial implications that are likely to emerge from the findings of this research agenda.

Assessing and Explaining the Diverging Trajectories of Territorial Parties and Politics in Italy and Spain (2008‐2018)

“…Even potentially disruptive episodes, like the autonomy referendums in Veneto and Lombardy mentioned above, failed to gain significant national attention (comparable to that of the Catalan crisis in Spain). If anything, the increasing ‘nationalisation’ of Italian political competition seems to be favouring the success of another radical right party, Brothers of Italy (FdI), which, together with Salvini’s League, forms the Italian ‘sovereignist’ front (Basile and Mazzoleni 2020).…”

Populist parties and foreign policy: The case of Italy’s Five Star Movement

“…In general, ‘sovereignism can generally be understood as a response to economic, political and cultural competition triggered by globalization’ (Baldini et al, 2020: 3). Thus, as clearly illustrated by Basile and Mazzoleni (2020):sovereignism is a form of grievance, a reaction that aims at bringing back control within a specific territory, namely the nation state [. .…”

“…The focus on restoration, on the recovery of a (real or imaginary) past explains why sovereignism has a peculiar meaning, and cannot be considered as a proxy of a nationalist claim. (Basile and Mazzoleni, 2020: 6) 8…”

“… 8. See authors also on the differences between sovereignism and Euroscepticism, which does not necessarily include such specific counter-proposals for the distribution of authority (Basile and Mazzoleni, 2020: 6). In line with a ‘sovereignist foreign policy’, we may suppose a significant opposition towards multilateral governance of transnational issues such as migration and generals attempt to ‘restore the sovereignty of the nation and the people’ (Vittori, 2017: 146). …”

Where is the middle? Considering the socio-political centre in Germany

“…Europe's 'dramatic populist wave' and a 'loosening of taboos' stimulated a caveat that 'collective memories are not fixed' (Caramani & Manucci, 2019, p. 1177. Explorations of the linkage between populism and 'sovereignism' (Basile & Mazzoleni, 2020;Verzichelli, 2020) imply high nationalist potential without addressing the middle.…”