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ABSTRACT
Research on the leaderships and electorates of populist right-wing parties emphasizes that most of these parties are charismatic and male-dominated, both as regards their leaderships and their voters. However, while studies about the gender gap focus mainly on demand-side factors, such as electoral support, socio-economic characteristics and the voters’ attitudes towards issues such as immigration, those that analyse the role and position of gender issues are still rare. Similarly, or even more, overlooked is an analysis of the rhetoric, style, charisma and discourse of populist female leaders, such as those representative of two now well-established Scandinavian populist right-wing parties: the Dansk Folkeparti (DF, Danish People’s Party) and Norway’s Fremskrittspartiet (FrP, Progress Party). Both parties have long been led by women although Pia Kjærsgaard of the DF recently stepped down, leaving the party leadership to Kristian Thulesen Dahl, a man of the younger generation of party members; Siv Jensen in Norway smoothly followed the long-term and charismatic leadership of Carl I. Hagen in 2006. The main focus of the paper, however, is on Pia Kjærsgaard, discussing the role gender plays in relation to her style, rhetoric and/or discursive strategies, but also in the gendered constructions featured in the Danish mainstream media. In the article, Meret also refers to the case of Marine Le Pen and the Front national (FN) in order to consider whether the Nordic cases represent a specific framework for female leadership, highly influenced by context and opportunity.
Notes
1 See Elisabeth Carter, The Extreme Right in Western Europe: Success or Failure? (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press 2005); Francisco Panizza (ed.), Populism and the Mirror of Democracy (London and New York: Verso Books 2005); Andrej Zaslove, ‘The dark side of European politics: unmasking the radical right’, Journal of European Integration, vol. 26, no. 1, 2004, 61–81; Cas Mudde, ‘The populist zeitgeist’, Government and Opposition, vol. 39, no. 4, 2004, 541–63; Roger Eatwell, ‘The rebirth of right-wing charisma? The cases of Jean-Marie Le Pen and Vladimir Zhirinovsky’, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, vol. 3, no. 3, 2002, 1–23; Paul Taggart, Populism (Buckingham: Open University Press 2000); Hans-Georg Betz and Stefan Immerfall (eds), The New Politics of the Right: Neo-Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1998); and Hans-Georg Betz, Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1994).
2 For a clear overview of the Weberian concept of charismatic leadership, see Reinhard Benedix, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait (Garden City, NY: Doubleday 1960); and Reinhard Bendix, ‘Reflections on charismatic leadership’, Asian Survey, vol. 7, no. 6, 1967, 341–52.
3 Ann Ruth Willner, The Spellbinders: Charismatic Political Leadership (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press 1984).
4 Edward A. Shils, The Torment of Secrecy: The Background and Consequences of American Security Policy (Glencoe, IL: Free Press 1956), 104.
5 Slavoj Žižek, For They Know Not What They Do: Enjoyment as a Political Factor (London: Verso 1991).
6 See Benedix, Max Weber, 303–4.
7 Taggart, Populism, 1.
8 See, for example, Susi Meret, ‘The Danish People’s Party, the Italian Northern League and the Austrian Freedom Party in a Comparative Perspective: Party Ideology and Electoral Support’, doctoral dissertation, Aalborg University, 2009, available on the Aalborg University website at http://vbn.aau.dk/files/20049801/spirit_phd_series_25.pdf (viewed 11 December 2014); and Hans-Georg Betz and Susi Meret, ‘Right-wing populist parties and the working class vote: what have you done for us lately?’, in Jens Rydgren (ed.), Class Politics and the Radical Right (London and New York: Routledge 2012), 107–21.
9 Francisco Panizza, ‘Introduction: populism and the mirror of democracy’, in Panizza (ed.), Populism and the Mirror of Democracy, 1–31 (11).
10 See, for example, David Art, Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011), 56–7; and Cas Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007). Takis Pappas attempts an operationalization of political charisma, leaving some open questions in relation to the way he constructs ordinary v. extraordinary charismatic leadership types; see Takis S. Pappas, Political Charisma Revisited, and Reclaimed for Political Science, EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2011/60 (Florence: European University Press).
11 Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity [1990] (New York and Abingdon: Routledge Classics 2010), 24.
12 See Niels Spierlings, Andrej Zaslove, Liza M. Mügge and Sarah L. de Lange, ‘Gender and populist radical-right politics: an introduction’, in these pages.
13 See, for example, R. W. Connell and James W. Messerschmidt, ‘Hegemonic masculinity: rethinking the concept’, Gender and Society, vol. 19, no. 6, 2005, 829–59.
14 See Eatwell, ‘The rebirth of right-wing charisma?’.
15 Spierlings, Zaslove, Mügge and De Lange, ‘Gender and populist radical-right politics: an introduction’.
16 See Eelco Harteveld, Wouter van der Brug, Stefan Dahlberg and Andrej Kokkonen, ‘The gender gap in populist radical-right voting: examining the demand side in Western and Eastern Europe’, in these pages; Terri E. Givens, Voting Radical Right in Western Europe (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 2005); Pippa Norris, Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005); and Herbert Kitschelt with Anthony J. McGann, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 1995).
17 Kathleen M. Blee and Sandra McGee Deutsch, ‘Introduction’, in Kathleen M. Blee and Sandra McGee Deutsch (eds), Women of the Right: Comparisons and Interplay across Borders (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press 2012), 1–17 (1).
18 See, for example, Ov Cristian Norocel, ‘Our People—A Tight-Knit Family under the Same Protective Roof: A Critical Study of Gendered Conceptual Metaphors at Work in Radical Right Populism’, doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki, 2013; Susi Meret and Birte Siim, ’Gender, populism and politics of belonging: discourses of populist rightwing parties in Denmark, Norway and Austria’, in Birte Siim and Monika Mokre (eds), Negotiating Gender and Diversity in an Emerging European Public Sphere (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2012), 78–96; Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, ‘Vox populi or vox masculini? Populism and gender in North Europe and South America’, in these pages; and Tjitske Akkerman and Anniken Hagelund, ‘“Women and children first!” Anti-immigration parties and gender in Norway and the Netherlands’, Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 41, no. 2, 2007, 197–214.
19 Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties, 260.
20 See, for example, Sören Holmberg and Henrik Oscarsson, ‘Party leader effect on the vote’, in Kees Aarts, André Blais and Hermann Schmitt (eds), Political Leaders and Democratic Elections (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 2013), 35–51.
21 See Wouter van der Brug and Anthony Mughan, ‘Charisma, leader effects and support for right-wing populist parties’, Party Politics, vol. 13, no. 1, 2007, 29–51.
22 Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties, 261.
23 Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties, 261. See also Sarah L. de Lange and David Art, ‘Fortuyn versus Wilders: an agency-based approach to radical right party building’, West European Politics, vol. 34, no. 6, 2011, 1229–49; David Art, Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 2011), 57.
24 See, for example, Jennifer Harding, Sex Acts: Practices of Femininity and Masculinity (London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 1998).
25 Hege Skjeie, Claims to Authority, GEP Working Paper no. 8 (Aalborg: Aalborg Universitet 1998).
26 Robert Mason, ‘“Pitbulls” and populist politicians: Sarah Palin, Pauline Hanson and the use of gendered nostalgia in electoral campaign’, Comparative American Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, 2010, 185–99.
27 Troels Mylenberg, De Forreste: Danmarks politiske lederskab (Copenhagen: People’s Press 2009), 17. Translations from the Danish, unless otherwise stated, are by the author.
28 See TNS Gallup for Berlingske tidende, ‘Troværdighed og Karisma for partiledere og udvalgte folketingspolitikere’, September 2012; for sale on the Berlingske website at www.b.dk/infoshop/politikernes-trovaerdighed-og-karisma-2012 (viewed 9 January 2015).
29 See Elisabet Svane, Pia K.: årene ved magten (Copenhagen: Verve 2009); Nikolaj Sommer and Sune Aagaard, Succes: historien om Pia Kjærsgaard (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof 2003); Pia Kjærsgaard, —men udsigen er god—: Midtvejserindringer (Copenhagen: Peter Asschenfeldts Nye Forlag 1998).
30 See Pia Kjærsgaard with Jette Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard: Fordi jeg var nødt til det (Copenhagen: Gyldendal 2013), 18, 20.
31 Mogens Glistrup interview, Focus, broadcast on Danmarks Radio, 30 January 1971.
32 Kjærsgaard, —men udsigen er god—, 59.
33 Sommer and Aagaard, Succes, 73.
34 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 55.
35 Jørgen Goul Andersen and Tor Bjørklund, ‘Scandinavia and the far right’, in Peter Davies and Paul Jackson (eds), The Far Right in Europe: An Encyclopedia (Oxford and Westport, CT: Greenwood World Press 2008), 147–63.
36 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 57, 58.
37 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 57, 58.
38 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 39.
39 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 292.
40 Thomas Larsen and Jesper Thobo-Carlsen, ‘Jeg vil gå på toppen’, Berlingske tidende, 8 August 2012; ‘Pia K: Derfor stopper jeg nu’ (video interview with Kjærsgaard), politiko.dk, 7 August 2012, available at www.politiko.dk/nyheder/pia-k-derfor-stopper-jeg-nu (viewed 8 January 2015).
41 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 85, 121.
42 Pia Kjærsgaard, ‘Topstyring?—Ja, naturligvis’, Dansk Folkeblad, vol. 4, no. 2, June 2000, 3.
43 Pia Kjærsgaard, ‘Topstyring?—Ja, naturligvis’, Dansk Folkeblad, vol. 4, no. 2. See also Kristoffer Zøllner, ‘Pia Kjærsgaard: Jeg kan ikke holde feminisme ud’, Berlingske tidende, 3 November 2013.
44 Pappas, Political Charisma Revisited, and Reclaimed for Political Science, 3–4.
45 Anne Sofie Kragh, Magten og Æren: 7 portrætter (Copenhagen: Aschehoug 2003), 89.
46 Kasper Vedsmand, ‘Kontrol-Pia: Jeg vil vide alt’, BT, 19 October 2008.
47 Tim Knudsen, Fra Folkestyre til markedsdemokrati: Dansk demokratihistorie efter 1973 (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag 2007), 140.
48 Kragh, Magten og Æren, 41.
49 Pia Kjærsgaard, quoted in Mylenberg, De Forreste, 19.
50 Pia Kjærsgaard, quoted in Mylenberg, De Forreste, 300.
51 Sommer and Aagaard, Succes, 53.
52 Pia Kjærsgaard, quoted in Sommer and Aagaard, Succes, 271.
53 Pia Kjærsgaard, quoted in ‘Her et mit liv’, Dansk Folkeblad, vol. 17, no. 6, November 2013, 6–7, 30 (6).
54 The ABBA group sued the DF youth organization for what they said was an improper and political use of their song. See ‘Abba lægger sag an mod DF’ere’, Politiken, 24 September 2010.
55 Kristian Thulesen Dahl, quoted in René Teige, ‘Så lyt dog til danskerne’, Dansk Folkeblad, vol. 17, no. 5, 2013, 6–7 (6).
56 Kjærsgaard with Meier Carlsen, Pia Kjærsgaard, 122.
57 Interview with Søren Espersen, June 2013.
58 Interview with Marie Krarup, June 2013.
59 Svane, Pia K., 9.
60 Sommer and Aagaard, Succes, 29.
61 See Ov Cristian Norocel, ‘Constructing radical right populist resistance: metaphors of heterosexist masculinities and the family question in Sweden’, NORMA: Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies (NORMA), vol. 5, no. 2, 2010, 169–83; and Ov Cristian Norocel, ‘Our People—A Tight-Knit Family under the Same Protective Roof’.
62 Meret and Siim, ’Gender, populism and politics of belonging’.
63 Meret and Siim, ’Gender, populism and politics of belonging’.
64 See Infomedia, the principle database for articles in the Danish press articles, available at www.infomedia.dk (viewed 14 January 2015).
65 Sommer and Aagaard, Succes, 251.
66 The substantive ‘Pianism’ has also been used to indicate Kjærsgaard’s populism.
67 Hans Mortensen, ‘Arveprinsen i dronningeriget’, Weekendavisen, 10 August 2012.
68 Casper Dall, ‘Måske 75 procent Pia, og så bliver Tulle selv’, Information, 9 August 2012.
69 Jesper Thobo-Carlsen, ‘Kan Kristian klare sig uden mor?’, Berlingske tidende, 9 August 2012; Morten Skærbæk, ‘KTD kan godt sætte andre på plads- bare ikke Pia’, Politiken, 9 August 2012; Editorial, ‘Pia er slet ikke færdig’, Ekstra Bladet, 9 August 2012.
70 Morten Pihl, ‘Pia Kjærsgaards fingeraftryk’, Jyllands Posten, 12 August 2012.
71 Thomas Larsen, ‘Kjærsgaards suveræne afsked’, politiko.dk, 7 August 2012, available at www.politiko.dk/nyheder/thomas-larsen-kjaersgaards-suveraene-afsked (viewed 15/1/15); David Rehling, ‘Et politisk naturtalent’, Information, 9 August 2012.
72 Rune Lykkeberg, ‘Den krænkede dansker’, Information, 11 August 2012.
73 Amalie Kestler, ‘Borgen’, Information, 11 August 2012.
74 Tim Knudsen, ‘Analyse: Pia Kjærsgaard repræsenterer fortidens politikertype’, Kristelig Dagblad, 9 August 2012.
75 Editorial, ‘Kloge Pia K.’, Jyllands Posten, 9 August 2012.
76 Thobo-Carlsen, ‘Kan Kristian klare sig uden mor?’.
77 Hans Engell, ‘Bag facaden: Han vil i regering’, Ekstra Bladet, 9 August 2012.
78 Mortensen, ‘Arveprinsen i dronningeriget’.
79 Hans Engell, ’Nu kommer jernnæven’, Ekstra Bladet, 9 August 2012.
80 Mette Østergaard, ‘DF bliver en mere almindeligt parti’, Politiken, 9 August 2012.
81 Birte Siim and Hege Skjeie, ‘Tracks, intersections and dead ends: multicultural challenges to state feminism in Denmark and Norway’, Ethnicities, vol. 8, no. 3, 2008, 322–44.
82 Carl I. Hagen, Ærlig talt: Memoarer 1944–2007 (Oslo: Cappelen Damm 2007), 546–50.
83 Martine Aurdal, Siv: Portrett av en formann (Oslo: Kagge Forlag 2006).
84 Martine Aurdal, Siv: Portrett av en formann (Oslo: Kagge Forlag 2006), 15, 113.
85 Mother of three, Marine Le Pen dedicated the 2011 edition of her autobiography to her children, with the hope that ‘. . . they will later understand that the time I have not spent together with them, I have always devoted to them’ (Marine Le Pen, À contre flots (Paris: Éditions Grancher 2011), 7).
86 Jean-Marc Simon, Marine Le Pen, au nom du père (Paris: Éditions Jacob-Duvernet 2011).
87 Hans-Georg Betz, ‘The new Front National: still a master case?’, Recode Working Paper No. 30, September 2013, available on the Recode website at www.recode.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Final-RECODE-30-Hans-Georg-Betz_Final_fin.pdf (viewed 10 February 2015).
88 Marine Le Pen, Pour que vive la France (Paris: Éditions Grancher 2012).
89 Blee and Deutsch, ‘Introduction’, 8–11.
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Susi Meret
Susi Meret is currently a Postdoc in the Department of Culture and Global Studies at Aalborg University. She is affiliated with the research group COMID (Center for the Study of Migration and Diversity) and coordinates the research network on Nordic populism (NOPO). Her main areas of expertise are right-wing populism, migration policy, Islamophobia, attitudes towards ethnic minorities, Nordic populism and the welfare state. Her recent publications include (with Birte Siim) ‘Multiculturalism, right-wing populism and the crisis of social democracy’, in Michael Keating and David McCrone (eds), The Crisis of Social Democracy in Europe (Edinburgh University Press 2013) and ‘Gender, populism and politics of belonging: discourses of right-wing populist parties in Denmark, Norway and Austria’, in Birte Siim and Monika Mokre (eds), Negotiating Gender and Diversity in the European Public Sphere (Palgrave 2013); and (with Hans-Georg Betz) ‘Right-wing populist parties and the working class vote: what have you done for us lately?’, in Jens Rydgren (ed.), Class Politics and the Radical Right (Routledge 2012). Email: [email protected]