The populist radical right and its discursive impact on EU-Level civil society

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the reactions of EU-level human rights and anti-discrimination organisations to the ‘populist turn’ in European politics. The political climate that organised civil society faces at EU level has been radically shaped by the impact of populist parties. Their success has altered the composition of the European Parliament, where they made significant advances in the 2014 European elections and retained a significant role in the 2019 elections. Their presence at the EU level and in the politics of several Member States has affected strategies of EU institutional actors, spurring both processes of polarisation and attempts at institutionalisation of their discourse and policies. This political change has particularly affected inclusionary and anti-discrimination organisations. This article focuses on their reactions and relies on a multi-method approach consisting of interviews and text analysis to document and analyse their different concerns about mounting populist ideas. It is found that all the civil society groups examined have incorporated reactions to the ‘populist turn’ into their discourse, but have emphasised the aspects that are more relevant to their identity and organisational strategies. At the same time, they have sought to develop a common ideational platform which reiterates the central role of civil society and a participatory view of European democracy.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil society
• populism
• EU
• anti-discrimination policy
• human rights

Notes

1 This work was supported by the Italian Research Council under Grant ‘The Transformations of Democracy: Actors, Strategies and Outcomes in Opposing Populism in Political, Juridical and Social Arenas’ (2020–2023).