Populist politics and the politics of “populism”: The radical right in Western Europe

Populism in Western Europe has been especially associated with the radical right. This chapter focuses on the role the concept of populism should play in our understanding of populist radical right (PRR) parties and on the role the signifier “populism” should play in assessing reactions to these parties by the press, other political actors, and academia. The authors challenge the prominent tendency to attach major importance to the PRR’s populism or even to reduce our understanding of the PRR as essentially or predominantly populist. Somewhat paradoxically, they argue that in order to better understand the nature, role and impact of populism in Western Europe, the concept of populism needs to play a less central part in analyses of populist parties. They also stress the need to reflect more on the performative effects of European discourses about populism—understood as a signifier—on the diagnoses of and strategies against the PRR.