Right Wing Populists’ Inflammatory Language: What Rhetorical Tactics are Most Effective in Granting Electoral Success?

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/xw42n943b

Abstract

Right-wing populism has been surging in Europe for about a decade. Within the last two years, however, we have witnessed actual electoral victories by right-wing populists in the Italian and Dutch elections. This unprecedented success has raised multiple key questions regarding the future of political competition in Europe. One of them is, “What makes right wing populists so popular?” Undoubtedly, some of the reasons have to do with their messaging. Common rhetorical tactics used by populists are tactics that include xenophobia, anti-EU attitudes, homophobia, and blame attribution. This paper strives to answer the question of what rhetorical tactics are most effective in granting electoral support for right wing populists in Europe. By analyzing the electoral programs of the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) in the Netherlands and Fratelli D’Italia (FDI) in Italy, and by comparing their evolution both across time, from 2012 to 2023, as well as cross-sectionally, relative to mainstream center right parties in these countries, this research shows that: 1) xenophobia is an effective populist strategy, especially when there is a real (as opposed to a theoretical) target group (of refugees) present whose numbers are increasing at a high rate; 2) anti-EU attitudes and anti-elite blame attribution also seem to matter, especially in the context of the higher inflation rates post-covid and the related decrease in trust for establishment party governments.

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