The paradox of nationalism: The common denominator of radical right and radical left euroscepticism
DAPHNE HALIKIOPOULOU,
KYRIAKI NANOU,
SOFIA VASILOPOULOU,
Corresponding Author
DAPHNE HALIKIOPOULOU
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Daphne Halikiopoulou, Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK. Tel.: +44 (0)20 7955 7805; E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
DAPHNE HALIKIOPOULOU,
KYRIAKI NANOU,
SOFIA VASILOPOULOU,
Corresponding Author
DAPHNE HALIKIOPOULOU
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Daphne Halikiopoulou, Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK. Tel.: +44 (0)20 7955 7805; E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
What can explain the strong euroscepticism of radical parties of both the right and the left? This article argues that the answer lies in the paradoxical role of nationalism as a central element in both party families, motivating opposition towards European integration. Conventionally, the link between nationalism and euroscepticism is understood solely as a prerogative of radical right-wing parties, whereas radical left-wing euroscepticism is associated with opposition to the neoliberal character of the European Union. This article contests this view. It argues that nationalism cuts across party lines and constitutes the common denominator of both radical right-wing and radical left-wing euroscepticism. It adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining intensive case study analysis with quantitative analysis of party manifestos. First, it traces the link between nationalism and euroscepticism in Greece and France in order to demonstrate the internal validity of the argument. It then undertakes a cross-country statistical estimation to assess the external validity of the argument and its generalisability across Europe.
References
- Bornschier, S. (2008). France: The model case of party system transformation. In H. Kriesi (ed.), West European politics in the age of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Bornschier, S. (2010). The new cultural divide and the two-dimensional space in Western Europe. West European Politics 33(3): 419–444.
- Bornschier, S. & Lachat, R. (2009). The evolution of the French political space and party system. West European Politics 32(2): 360–383.
- Braun, D., Mikhaylov, S. & Schmitt, H. (2010). Manifesto Study Documentation, 1 April. Available online at: http://www.piredeu.eu
- Breuilly, J. (1993). Nationalism and the state, 2nd edn. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
- Breuilly, J. (2000). Nationalism and the history of ideas (Elie Kedourie Memorial Lecture). In British Academy, 1999 lectures and memoirs, Vol. 105. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Breuilly, J. (2005). Dating the nation: How old is an old nation? In A. Ichijo & G. Uzelac (eds), When is the nation? Towards an understanding of theories of nationalism. London: Routledge.
- Breuilly, J. (2011). What does it mean to say that nationalism is ‘popular’? In M. Van Ginderachter & M. Beyen (eds) Nationhood from below: Continental Europe in the long nineteenth century. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Bruter, M. (2005). Citizens of Europe? The emergence of a mass European identity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
10.1057/9780230501539 Google Scholar
- Budge, I. et al. (2001). Mapping policy preferences: Estimates for parties, electors and governments, 1945–1998. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Carey, S. (2002). Undivided loyalties: Is national identity an obstacle to European integration? European Union Politics 3(4): 387–413.
10.1177/1465116502003004001 Google Scholar
- Davies, P. (1999). The National Front in France: Ideology, discourse and power. London: Routledge.
- De Vries, C.E. & Edwards, E.E. (2009). Taking Europe to its extremes: Extremist parties and public Euroscepticism. Party Politics 15(1): 5–28.
- Diamandouros, N. (1993). Politics and culture in Greece, 1974–1991: An interpretation. In R. Clogg (ed.), Greece, 1981–1989: The populist decade. New York: St Martin's Press.
- Economides, S. (2005). The Europeanisation of Greek foreign policy. West European Politics 28(2): 471–491.
- The Economist (2009). The worrying European elections. The Economist, 11 June. Available online at: http://www.economist.com/realarticleid.cfm?redirect_id=13829453
- Erk, J. (2010). Is nationalism left or right? Critical junctures in Quebecois nationalism. Nations and Nationalism 16(3): 423–441.
- Featherstone, K. (1988). Socialist parties and European integration: A comparative history. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
- Featherstone, K. (2005). Introduction: ‘Modernisation’ and the structural constraints of Greek politics. West European Politics 28(2): 223–241.
- FN (Front National) (1994). Allez la France! Le 12 juin pour que ca change! Paris: FN.
- FN (Front National) (1999). Avec Jean-Marie Le Pen et Charles de Gaulle, pour la France . . . changeons d'Europe! Paris: FN.
- FN (Front National) (2004). Manifesto for the 2004 EP elections. Paris: FN.
- FN (Front National) (2009). Programme Europe du Front National. Paris: FN.
- Freeden, M. (1998). Is nationalism a distinct ideology? Political Studies 46: 748–765.
- Gellner, E. (1983). Nations and nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Gemenis, K. & Dinas, E. (2010). Confrontation still? Examining parties' policy positions in Greece. Comparative European Politics 8(2): 179–201.
- Georgiadou, V. (2008). Ψηϕίζοντας τηνάκραδεξιά. ΗεκλογικήεπιλογήτουΛA.Ο.Σ. Epistimi kai Koinonia 19 (Spring).
- Gerring, J. (2006). Case study research: Principles and practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511803123 Google Scholar
- Gujarati, D.N. (2003). Basic econometrics, 4th edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Hainsworth, P. (2008). The extreme right in Western Europe. Abingdon: Routledge.
10.4324/9780203965054 Google Scholar
- Hale Williams, M. (2009). Kirchheimer's French twist: A model of the catch-all thesis applied to the French case. Party Politics 15(5): 592–614.
- Hall, J. (2011). Nationalism might change its character, again. In D. Halikiopoulou & S. Vasilopoulou (eds), Nationalism and globalisation: Conflicting or complementary? London: Routledge.
- Hastings, A. (1997). The construction of nationhood: Ethnicity, religion and nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511612107 Google Scholar
- Haywood, A. (1992). Political ideologies: An introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hechter, M. (2000). Containing nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Hobsbawm, E.J. (1990). Nations and nationalism since 1780: Programme, myth, reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Hooghe, L. & Marks, G. (2005). Calculation, community and cues: Public opinion on European integration. European Union Politics 6(4): 419–443.
- Hooghe, L., Marks, G. & Wilson, C. (2004). Does left–right structure party positions on European integration? In G. Marks & M. Steenbergen (eds), European integration and political conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511492013.008 Google Scholar
- Kalyvas, S.N. & Marantzidis, N. (2002). Greek communism, 1968–2001. East European Politics and Societies 16(3): 655–690.
- Karatzaferis, G. (2009). Speech during the 4th Party Congress (ΟµιλίαΤουΠροέδρουτουΛα.Ο.Σκ. Γ. Καρατζαϕέρηστην‘Εναρξητου 4ουΤακτικούΣυνεδρίουτουΛA.Ο.Σ’). Available online at: http://www.karatzaferis.gr/index.asp?epilogi=CenPage\mainleft/YNEPIO040709.txt
- Kedourie, E. (1960). Nationalism. London: Hutchinson.
- KKE (Communist Party of Greece) (1994). Declaration of the Central Committee of KKE for the 1994 EP elections. Athens: KKE.
- KKE (Communist Party of Greece) (1999). Declaration of the Central Committee of KKE for the 1999 EP elections. Athens: KKE.
- KKE (Communist Party of Greece) (2004). Declaration of the Central Committee of KKE for the 2004 EP elections. Athens: KKE.
- KKE (Communist Party of Greece) (2009). Manifesto for the 2009 European Parliament Elections. Athens: KKE.
- Klingemann, H.D. et al. (2006). Mapping policy preferences II: Estimates for parties, electors and governments in Eastern Europe, European Union and OECD, 1990–2003. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Kohn, H. (1946). The idea of nationalism: A study in its origins and background. New York: Macmillan.
- Kopecky, P. & Mudde, C. (2002). The two sides of euroscepticism: Party positions on European integration in East Central Europe. European Union Politics 3(3): 297–326.
10.1177/1465116502003003002 Google Scholar
- Kriesi, H. et al. (2006). Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared. European Journal of Political Research 45(6): 921–956.
- Kriesi, H. et al. (2008). West European politics in the age of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511790720 Google Scholar
- LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) (2004). Manifesto for the EP elections. Athens: LAOS.
- LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) (2009). Manifesto for the EP elections. Athens: LAOS.
- Laver, M. & Garry, J. (2000). Estimating policy positions from political texts. American Journal of Political Science 44(3): 619–634.
- Lazar, M. (1995). The nation: Insurmountable horizon of the French left? In M. Minkenberg (ed.), What's left? The left and nationalism in a post-socialist Europe. Ithaca, NY: Institute for European Studies, Cornell University.
- Lyrintzis, C. (2005). The changing party system: Stable democracy, contested modernisation. West European Politics 28(2): 242–259.
- Mair, P. & Mudde, C. (1998). The party family and its study. Annual Review of Political Science 1: 211–229.
- March, L. & Mudde, C. (2005). What's left of the radical left? The European radical left after 1989: Decline and mutation. Comparative European Politics 3(1): 22–49.
10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110052 Google Scholar
- Marks, G. & Wilson, C.J. (2000). The past in the present: A cleavage theory of party response to European integration. British Journal of Political Science 30(2): 433–459.
- Marks, G., Wilson, C.J. & Ray, L. (2002). National political parties and European integration. American Journal of Political Science 46(3): 585–594.
- Marks, G. et al. (2006). Party ideology and European integration in the East and West: Different structure, same causality. Comparative Political Studies 39(2): 155–175.
- McCulloch, T. (2006). The Nouvelle Droite in the 1980s and 1990s – Ideology and entryism: The relationship with the Front National. French Politics 4: 158–178.
10.1057/palgrave.fp.8200099 Google Scholar
- McLaren, L. (2002). Public support for European integration: Cost/benefit analysis or perceived cultural threat. Journal of Politics 64(2): 551–66.
- Mevius, M. (2011). Reappraising communism and nationalism. In The Communist quest for national legitimacy in Europe, 1918–1989. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Minkenberg, M. (1995). The left and nationalism: An antithetical, ambivalent or amorphous relationship? Some introductory remarks. In M. Minkenberg (ed.), What's left? The left and nationalism in a post-socialist Europe. Ithaca, NY: Institute for European Studies, Cornell University.
- Minkenberg, M. (2002). The radical right in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe: Comparative observations and interpretations. East European Politics & Society 16(2): 335–362.
- Mouzelis, N. (1995). Greece in the twenty-first century: Institutions and political culture. In D. Constas & T. Stavrou (eds), Greece prepares for the twenty-first century. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Mudde, C. (1996). The war of words: Defining the extreme right party family. West European Politics 19(2): 225–248.
10.1080/01402389608425132 Google Scholar
- Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Mudde, C. (2010). The populist radical right: A pathological normalcy. West European Politics 33(6): 1167–1186.
- Nairn, T. (1975). The modern Janus. New Left Review 1(94): 3–29.
- PCF (Communist Party of France) (1994). Le rapport de Francis Wurtz. Paris: PCF.
- PCF (Communist Party of France) (1999). Europe: votre avis nous intéresse et va compter. Paris: PCF.
- PCF (Communist Party of France) (2004). L'Europe oui: mais pas cette-là! Paris: PCF.
- PCF (Communist Party of France)/FG (Front de Gauche) (2009). Projet du Front de Gauche. Paris: PCF/FG.
- Perrineau, P. (1997). Le symptôme Le Pen: radiographie des électeurs du Front National. Paris: Fayard.
- Renan, E. (1882 1996). Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? In G. Eley & R.G. Suny (eds), Becoming national: A reader. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Schwarzmantel, J. (1987). Class and nation: Problems of socialist nationalism. Political Studies 35(2): 239–255.
- Shields, J. (1996). The French Gaullists. In J. Gaffney (ed.), Political parties and the European Union. London: Routledge.
- Sitter, N. (2001). The politics of opposition and European integration in Scandinavia: Is euro-scepticism a government–opposition dynamic? West European Politics 24(4): 22–39.
- Smith, A.D. (1991). National Identity. London: Penguin.
- Smith, A.D. (2003). Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10.1093/oso/9780192100177.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Smith, A.D. (2004). History and national destiny: Responses and clarifications. Nations and Nationalism 10(1–2): 195–209.
10.1111/j.1354-5078.2004.00163.x Google Scholar
- Smith, A.D. (2010). Nationalism, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Sotiropoulos, D. (2010). Revisiting the debate on national identities in contemporary Greece. South European Society and Politics 15(2): 315–318.
- Spourdalakis, M. & Tassis, C. (2006). Party change in Greece and the vanguard role of PASOK. South European Society and Politics 11(3–4): 497–512.
10.1080/13608740600856546 Google Scholar
- Szczerbiak, A. (2008). Opposing Europe or problematizing Europe? Euroscepticism and ‘eurorealism’ in the Polish party system. In A. Szczerbiak & P. Taggart (eds), Opposing Europe? The comparative party politics of Euroscepticism. Vol. 1: Case studies and country surveys. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Szczerbiak, A. & Taggart, P. (2008). Opposing Europe? The comparative party politics of Euroscepticism. Vols 1 and 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Taggart, P. (1998). A touchstone of dissent: Euroscepticism in contemporary Western European party systems. European Journal of Political Research 33(3): 363–388.
- Tonnesson, S. (2009). The class route to nationhood: China, Vietnam, Norway, Cyprus – and France. Nations and Nationalism 15(3): 375–395.
- Vasilopoulou, S. (2011). European integration and the radical right: Three patterns of opposition. Government and Opposition 46(2): 223–244.
- Verney, S. (1994). Panacea or Plague: Greek Political Parties and Accession to the European Community, 1974–1979. Doctoral thesis, King's College.
- Volkens, A. (2006). Policy changes of parties in European Parliament party groups. In J. Bara & A. Weale (eds), Democratic politics and party competition: Essays in honour of Ian Budge. London: Routledge.
- Wooldridge, J.M. (2002). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Wüst, A.M. & Volkens, A. (2003). Euromanifesto coding instructions. MZES Working Article 64. Mannheim: Mannheim Centre for European Social Research.
- Yack, B. (2001). Popular sovereignty and nationalism. Political Theory 29(4): 517–536.
- Zimmer, O. (2003). Boundary mechanisms and symbolic resources: Towards a process-oriented approach to national identity. Nations and Nationalism 9(2): 173–193.
10.1111/1469-8219.00081 Google Scholar
