How many 'Europes'? Left-Wing and Right-Wing Social Movements and their Visions of Europe (original) (raw)
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The contestation and appropriation of the concept Europe by contemporary anti-liberal movements
This study analyses the contestation of the concept of Europe by contemporary anti- liberal groups. The aim of this analysis is to answer the question for the motives of these groups to choose Europe as a point of reference instead of national or regional frames of reference. The analysis is based on conceptual history which traces changing meanings of concepts through history, in this case the concept of Europe. The theoretical approach builds on Koselleck's Zeitschichten and Schulz-Forberg's Raumschichten. The temporal, spatial and normative dimensions of the concept of Europe are therefore the main guiding categories of the analysis. In addition, Sirinelli's model of generations serves as a hypothesis for the emergence of social movements and their durability. As a first step, an overview over the concept of Europe and the main aspects with regard to its temporal, spatial and normative meaning which have been attached to it is provided. The claim of the EU as an “owner” of the concept and the role of the public sphere in defining are furthermore discussed. As a next step, a short historical overview outlines earlier anti-liberal movements and their conceptualisations of Europe. The analysis focuses on two anti-liberal groups: Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of Europe) and the Identitarian Movement. The analysis shows that both movements challenge the liberal concept of Europe in several ways. They point back to Christianity as a normative basis, state that Islam is not compatible with or at least problematic within Europe and are highly critical of immigration. Whereas Pegida has a very vague conceptualisation of Europe and refers more to the national context, the Identitarians establish an ideologically consistent framework of Europe which is highly essentialist and strongly refers to earlier anti-liberal movements. The reason for referring to Europe lies in their interest to gain and maintain credibility, defend themselves against allegations of xenophobia and create an antagonist. The hypothesis of a political generation holds in case of the Identitarians, but is hard to uphold in case of Pegida due to the diverse backgrounds of their members. The analysis shows how the EU definition of the concept of Europe is challenged as the gap between political elites and civil society widens. Anti-liberal groups avoid overtly xenophobic discourses and adapt ideological and aesthetic elements from the left which makes it difficult to discern them. At the same time, rejection of the EU becomes politically and socially established, putting the EU project at danger. New media play an increasingly important role in spreading their messages and ideology and have become a counter-public sphere which deserves further monitoring and analysis.
europe at the crossroads Populist, Nationalist and Global Challenges
2019
The extreme right wing is on the rise. And there are signs that part of the political mainstream in Europe, the US, and beyond is considering going along with far-right populist parties and their divisive, ethno-nationalist programmes. Europe at the Crossroads is an urgent scholarly response to the sociopolitical challenges that far-right programmes pose to the idea of a more egalitarian world. It offers an interdisciplinary explanation and critique of the dynamics of the far right in Europe – from Poland to the UK, from Sweden to Greece. The authors present immediate alternatives when tackling the exclusionary rhetoric and the politics of resentment. In formulating alternatives for a ‘social Europe’, each contributor critically assesses the current advance of far-right populism and the threat to liberal democracy since the global financial crisis of 2008 and the European refugee movement of 2015. Each chapter addresses the historical roots and normalization of the extreme right, whether Orbanism in Central and Eastern Europe since 2014, the Brexit campaign and referendum in the UK in 2016. As the slogan ‘Fortress Europe’ – once a pejorative term – now appeals to large numbers of voters, the authors also analyse the flash points in the run-up to the European Parliament elections in May 2019.
Europe at the Crossroads: Confronting Populist, Nationalist, and Global Challenges
Nordicum Press, 2019
The extreme right wing is on the rise. And there are signs that part of the political mainstream in Europe, the US, and beyond is considering going along with far-right populist parties and their divisive, ethno-nationalist programmes. Europe at the Crossroads is an urgent scholarly response to the sociopolitical challenges that far-right programmes pose to the idea of a more egalitarian world. It offers an interdisciplinary explanation and critique of the dynamics of the far right in Europe – from Poland to the UK, from Sweden to Greece. The authors present immediate alter- natives when tackling the exclusionary rhetoric and the politics of resentment. In formulating alternatives for a ‘social Europe’, each contributor critically assesses the current advance of far- right populism and the threat to liberal democracy since the global financial crisis of 2008 and the European refu- gee movement of 2015. Each chapter addresses the histori- cal roots and normalization of the extreme right, whether Orbanism in Central and Eastern Europe since 2014, the Brexit campaign and referendum in the UK in 2016. As the slogan ‘Fortress Europe’ – once a pejorative term – now appeals to large numbers of voters, the authors also analyse the flash points in the run-up to the European Parliament elections in May 2019.
Social Movement Studies, 2022
For many left-wing and liberal social movement activists, support for ‘Europe’ and opposition to a ‘nationalist’ turn has become a key motivation for their activism. Paradoxically, however, their opponents at the other end of the political spectrum, far-right activists, also positively identify as European. This article analyses one of the key developments in the contemporary European protest arena, i.e. the dominance of European identities, even when activists strongly criticize real-existing European integration. First, we propose a novel conceptual framework that captures these dominant European identities. We distinguish between ‘anti-nationalist Europeans’ and ‘pro-European nativists’, underlining the existence of strong European identities across the political spectrum, deeply embedded in the mindset of activists even when they sharply criticize European integration in its current form. At the same time, these pro-European stances strongly differ in whether they are culturally inclusive or exclusive and how they relate to the question of nationalism or the nation state. Second, we apply these concepts to six key cases of movement mobilization in western Europe after the anti-austerity protests, shedding light on the anti-TTIP protests, Yanis Varoufakis’ DiEM25, the anti-Brexit movement in the UK, the Sardines in Italy (including their offshoot, the Herrings in Finland), the Identitarians and PEGIDA. Third, we further contextualize the ‘anti-nationalist Europeanism’ and ‘pro-European nativism’ of these six cases, emphasizing historical roots, the facilitation of coalition building, implications for transnational practices, and the meaning of silence. Methodologically, the article draws on online and offline publications, semi-structured interviews, and survey data.
Social movements and the European Union: Eurosceptics or critical Europeanists?
Notre Europe Policy Paper, 2006
Are social movement organisations euro-sceptical, rejecting the construction of European-level institutions? Or do they accept the EU as a new level of governance upon which to put pressure, developing critical Europeanism? This paper addresses these issues, locating contemporary social movements in a broader scenario of political conflicts around European integration,. Movements' attitudes towards Europe are discussed on the basis of empirical information collected on the organizations and activists that belong to the transnational networks of protest that have been known under the labels of alterglobalists, Globalizierungskritikers, or global justice movement. These data challenge the inclusion of those social movement organisations and activists among the eurosceptics, suggesting instead that they be defined as "critical Europeanists", who are not against more competences for Europe in principle, but are dissatisfied with its present policies. In this frame, the existing "market Europe" is criticized as supporting neo-liberal policies, but an alternative, "social Europe" is called for. With internal differences, movement organizations and activists do not favour in fact a return to the nation state, but rather develop a process of "Europeanisation from below", which includes the formation of European identities and European organizational networks. The intensification of the debate about Europe has brought about the symbolic linkage of the "conflict over Europe", layering various other cleavages over the original territorial ones Support and opposition thus tend to refer not only to (or not very much to) the integration process itself, but more and more address its form and content.
2016
Europe is no longer what it used to be. The notion of European unification has been dashed to the ground. The actually existing project of European unification can hardly still be defended, from a left perspective, without lapsing into sheer illusionism. The call for additional consolidation and democratisation of the EU is not illusionary in the sense of being false, but in that of lacking any possibility of implementation under the given circumstances. In the experience of broad sections of the population, what »more EU« has meant so far has simply been more neoliberal reform. Brexit has shown one thing clearly: the European left has lost large parts of the popular classes – both the »endangered middle« and the precariat –, and this is true not just with regard to a European perspective, but with regard to left perspectives as such. According to Owen Jones (2016), the Brexit vote was »a working-class revolt. It may not have been the working-class revolt against the political establishment that many of us favoured, but it is undeniable that this result was achieved off the back of furious, alienated« white working class voters. This state of affairs, which is not specific to the UK, constitutes an existential problem for the left: if left politics degenerates into the lifestyle choice of a well-educated, urban, cosmopolitan class, then the left will be perceived as merely another established political force, with little to distinguish it from other »elites«. It makes no sense to bank on the consolidation of European integration, given the crisis and the deterioration of the European idea. But to conclude from this that we should strive for a left exit, a Lexit, is no less sensible, and as unrealistic as our call for a social Europe, which we have now been articulating for twenty years. Where a Lexit referendum would be formally possible, we could only win it by joining forces with right-wing populists and racists such as Wilders' Party for Freedom or Le Pen's National Front. This would be a poisoned cooperation, not only because it would be extremely difficult for us to set ourselves apart from the right, but also because as a rule, it is the right that benefits from such arrangements, whereas the left is berated and accused, both by middle-class parties and by its own supporters. So what is to be done?
In: Blokker, P. (ed.) Imagining Europe. Transnational contestation and civic populism, Palgrave, 33-57. , 2022
DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025) is among the most prominent recent attempts of left-wing transnationalism. In this chapter, we analyze how DiEM25 activists identify with ‘Europe’ and how they assess the practice of transnational activism. Our findings contribute to three important general debates on contemporary social movement activism. First, we provide further evidence that ‘anti-nationalist Europeanism’ constitutes a cornerstone of the political identity of many contemporary left-wing activists. Despite the strong criticism of and disappointment with the real-existing EU among DiEM25 activists, they strongly hold on to European integration, while being critical of the nation state, often equated with nationalism. Second, our findings underline the difficulties of ‘Europeanization from below’: despite DiEM25’s strong transnationalism on an ideational level, the actual practices of transnational activism involve many challenges, both offline and online. Third, we link to more general debates on the transnational strategies of left-wing actors in Europe, questioning the feasibility of such an approach, not only because of the challenges to effectively organize transnationally, but also because social science research indicates the immunization of the EU against left-wing reform. Methodologically, we make use of novel data collected for the research project that forms the basis of this book: semi-structured interviews with DiEM25 activists.