Speaking for “the European people”? How the transnational alliance Fortress Europe constructs a populist counter-narrative to European integration

Volk, Sabine

doi:10.3917/poeu.066.0120

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…However, counter-narratives can be hostile, and destabilizing, and they can very well be harnessed by powerful agents to be turned into master narratives. This has been pointed out by several recent studies focusing on how Eurosceptic and right-wing groups of actors engage in the construction of counter-narratives in order to yield political and symbolic power (Conrad et al, 2019;Petrović, 2019;Volk, 2019; see also Lucchesi, 2020 in this issue).…”

Section: Counter-narrativementioning

confidence: 93%

Narrative and Europeanization: bringing together two processual notions

Lueg¹,

Carlson

2020

CPE

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State of the art -subjects and range within contemporary researchNarratives and the notion of Europe are closely interconnected, both by cultural frameworks of what constitutes Europe and 'being European', and by EU-related stories crafted for political purposes. In a broader, much more paradigmatic perspective, narrative inquiry suggests that stories, as constructed and reconstructed by agents, are to be considered constituents of social interaction and phenomena, in general. Narratives construct and constrain individual and group identity (Hyvärinen et al., 2010;Loseke, 2007;Somers, 1994;Weick, 1995). What is more, they do construct phenomena agents perceive as reality (Bruner, 1991) by organizing identities into cultural or political institutions (Ewick & Silbey, 1995). Through the use of narratives and stories humans create a sense of meaning and purpose between fragmented events and experiences. Experiences are meaningful parts of shaping humans' stories about themselves (Johansen, 2012;McAdams, 1996) with regard to the social context they relate to. In exactly this sense, narratives contribute to the construction of 'Europe' and its political representation, the European Union (EU), as meaningful entities, and they appear in various forms in relation to the process of European integration, thereby shaping and permeating countless dimensions of social life (for an overview of European narratives and counter-narratives cf. Bârğaoanu et al., 2017). This has been clearly demonstrated by an abundance of research literature coming from scientific disciplines such as anthropology, cultural studies, economics, geography, history, law, literary studies, political science and sociology (although the latter, we would argue, to date plays a somewhat minor role in this field). Thus, corresponding narratives have been crafted and construed, passed on and modified by various intellectuals, writers, artists, scholars and politicians (Chenal & Snelders, 2012;Dittmer, 2014;Forchtner & Kølvraa, 2012;Petrović, 2017) as well as by newspapers (Rovisco, 2010). Sometimes, this occurs in a professionally fabricated manner as in the case of the European Commission's attempt to foster a 'new narrative for Europe' (

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Section: Counter-narrativementioning

confidence: 93%

Narrative and Europeanization: bringing together two processual notions

Lueg¹,

Carlson

2020

CPE

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“…It is an ethno-pluralist position adapted by the AfD from broader discourses on the idea of ‘Europe for the Europeans’ that have been developing since at least the 1990s (Liang, 2007). It is also a position that resonates with the idea of ‘fortress Europe’ that began making its return to political discourse in the years following the refugee crisis of 2015 – a metaphor frequently used on the far right to designate the ‘EU as a closed space with hermetically sealed external borders as well as highly restricted immigration and asylum policies’ (Volk, 2019: 13).…”

Section: The Spandauer Zitadelle: Fortress and Fatherlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritage and the ‘Heartland’: Architectural and urban heritage in the discourse and practice of the populist far right

Blokker

2022

Journal of European Studies

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The role of architectural heritage in the discourse and practice of the populist far right is examined, referring to examples in Germany and focusing on the Alternative für Deutschland. The findings reveal that the Alternative für Deutschland appropriates historic buildings and sites in a number of ways, including visual and oral rhetoric and embodied performance, and instrumentalizes them to specific ends. Built heritage in particular serves to naturalize and therefore to legitimize and authorize populist positions by anchoring them not only in time but also at places, thus reinforcing populism’s exclusionary logic along territorial lines – including those describing the space of ‘European civilization’. This implies challenges for heritage professionals and institutions, as actors such as the Alternative für Deutschland attempt to map the notion of a national or a civilizational ‘Heartland’ onto existing heritage objects and sites or else engage in ‘making’ heritage in the urban environment.

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“…The demonstrations are usually nonviolent events (Volk and Weisskircher, forthcoming) consisting of a couple of speeches and a march. Mobilizing against a multicultural society and the political establishment, PEGIDA's ideology is representative of the broader populist far-right in Europe (Druxes and Simpson, 2016;Vorländer et al, 2018;Volk, 2019;Caiani and Weisskircher, 2021). In the past, PEGIDA had reached extraordinary mobilization successes with up to 25,000 participants, on average male and middle-aged members of the working population.…”

Section: Contestation and Counter-performances Of Control: Pegidamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, PEGIDA's counter-performances were addressed toward a transnational audience. Claiming to represent a European constituency (Volk, 2019(Volk, , 2020Caiani and Weisskircher, 2021), the imagined constituencies of PEGIDA's counter-performances included not only the followers of the international guest speakers from Belgium and Austria but also a vague notion of "Europeans" writ-large. The differences between institutional and grassroots politics seem to confirm the so-called renaissance of the nation-state during the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of institutional politics.…”

Section: Pegida's Counter-performancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Performances of Control During COVID-19: Controlling and Contesting Democracy in Germany

Volk

2021

Front. Polit. Sci.

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Drawing from interpretive, namely discursive-performative approaches to both institutional and grassroots (populist) politics, this article explores political performances and counter-performances of control in Germany during the so-called first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodologically, the article constructs a comparative analytical framework including three cases from both within and outside of the federal institutional structure of Germany: at the institutional level, the cases comprise Angela Merkel, long-term federal Chancellor of Germany, and Michael Kretschmer, the regional Governor of the state of Saxony; at the grassroots level, the selected case is the populist protest movement “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident” (Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes, PEGIDA). Based on original empirical data generated using the toolkit of qualitative-interpretive methodology, notably online ethnography, the comparative analysis focuses on a few key counter-performances of control, among them a TV address (Merkel), a visit to an “anti-lockdown” demonstration (Kretschmer), and virtual protest events (PEGIDA). Emphasizing the performed, dynamic, and contested character of political control in Germany in spring 2020, the empirical analysis yields the following results: first, it sheds light on the different political styles of performing and contesting institutional control, including the habitus, modes, and (emotional) tones of the communication of the performers, and the scripts, stages, intended audiences as (imagined) constituencies, and modalities of transmission of their performances. Second, the discourse-theoretical perspective of the analysis reveals that political performances of control were closely linked to articulations of democracy as an empty signifier, and to claims for safeguarding democratic principles as such. Third, the article demonstrates the value of interpretive approaches to politics to generate more nuanced understandings of the relationships between the pandemic, democracy, and populism in a situation of an ultimate lack of control.

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Speaking for “the European people”? How the transnational alliance Fortress Europe constructs a populist counter-narrative to European integration

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

Narrative and Europeanization: bringing together two processual notions

Narrative and Europeanization: bringing together two processual notions

Heritage and the ‘Heartland’: Architectural and urban heritage in the discourse and practice of the populist far right

Political Performances of Control During COVID-19: Controlling and Contesting Democracy in Germany

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