The ambiguity of Europe and European identity in Finnish populist political discourse

Abstract

Europe is a profoundly flexible concept and, in Ernesto Laclau’s terms, a ‘floating signifier’ which is given various meanings depending on the speaker’s political aims. The article focuses on current populist and nationalist political discourses in Finland and the articulation of Europe and European identity in the political rhetoric of The Finns Party. In the rhetoric, Europe is given contradictory meanings. On the one hand, it is perceived as a cultural and value-based community which shares a common (Christian) heritage and values. Identification with Europe and the promotion of European communality are particularly pronounced when a threat towards ‘us’ is experienced as coming from outside the imagined European borders. On the other hand, the European integration process and Europe as a political project can be articulated as threats not only to national independence, identity and cultural particularity but to European cultural identity as well.

Keywords:

• Europe
• the European Union
• identity
• nationalism
• populism
• The Finns Party

Acknowledgements

The work has been supported by the Academy of Finland under Grant SA21000019101 (Populism as movement and rhetoric).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tuuli Lähdesmäki

TUULI LÄHDESMÄKI is Academy Research Fellow in the Department of Art and Culture Studies at University of Jyväskylä, Finland.