Right-wing populist parties as defender of Christianity? The case of the Italian Northern League

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Right-wing populist parties have recently seen remarkable electoral success in Europe. The exclusion of the political elite and certain ethnic, cultural, or religious groups from the people is described as their core characteristics. Some scholars argue that—within this logic of reasoning—right-wing populist parties increasingly refer to (supposedly) Christian roots and traditions, which are said to be endangered by the immigration of ‘aggressive’ Muslims. Thus, right-wing populists abuse the Christian religion and traditions in order to exclude certain sections of the population from the people or to deny them access to the ‘Christian Occident’. Taking the Italian Northern League as a case study, this paper examines whether and in which context this right-wing populist party refers to Christianity. Based on a content analysis that examines both quality and quantity of Christian-religious references, election programs, articles from the party’s website, and the party’s Twitter account are analysed. In conclusion, it can be stated that the Northern League actually refers to Christian traditions, dignitaries, and followers only in the context of a demarcation rhetoric towards others—especially towards Islam, although these references are used rather rarely. In addition, the Northern League seems to be the only relevant Italian party that uses Christian references at all.
Translated title of the contributionRechtspopulistische Parteien als Verteidiger christlicher Identität?: Das Fallbeispiel der italienischen Lega Nord Jakob Schwörer
Original languageEnglish
JournalZeitschrift für Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik
Volume2
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)387-413
Number of pages27
ISSN2510-1218
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26.09.2018

    Research areas

  • Politics - Populism, Religion, Italy, Northern League