A Tight–Knit Family Under the Same Protective Roof
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Department of Political and Economic Studies University of Helsinki Helsinki OUR PEOPLE – A TIGHT–KNIT FAMILY UNDER THE SAME PROTECTIVE ROOF A CRITICAL STUDY OF GENDERED CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS AT WORK IN RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM Ov Cristian Norocel ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in the auditorium of the University of Helsinki Museum Arppeanum, on 20 December 2013, at 12 noon. 2 | Ov Cristian Norocel ISBN 978-952-10-9563-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-9564-1 (PDF) © Ov Cristian Norocel 2013 Unigrafia Helsinki 2013 OUR PEOPLE – A TIGHT–KNIT FAMILY | 3 ABSTRACT Contemporary globalisation processes witness the articulation of an allegedly homogeneous totality that has coalesced in direct opposition to the very globalisation processes that have enabled it. This totality is commonly labelled ‘our people’ and reunites the citizens inhabiting the political–social–cultural space of a specific polity. Radical right populist parties – claiming to defend the political interests of the people – have gained increasing visibility and acceptance across Europe. Particularly salient among the symbols these parties have employed to portray their ideological stances is the depiction of the people as the tightly–knit family, under the guardianship of a man/father/leader, sheltered together under their home’s protective roof. However, there is a lack of gender–sensitive research on radical right populist ideology. The present study consequently aims to uncover the means through which both concepts – that of family, and respectively people – are discursively gendered, in the sense that they reify gender–based distinctions, thereby naturalising the traditional hierarchal gender binary. The dissertation focuses on two case studies: the Greater Romania Party (Partidul România Mare, PRM) and the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD). It examines how the leaders of radical right populist parties in Romania and in Sweden explain discursively with the aid of conceptual structures – particularly, the conceptual metaphor of THE NATION IS A FAMILY and adjoining metaphorical clusters – their ideological conception of the hierarchical gender binary. The present study represents in other words an interdisciplinary dialogue between political science – particularly the study of radical right populism; communication studies – mainly the relationship between the radical right populist leader and contemporary media logic; conceptual metaphor theory – especially the critical analysis of conceptual metaphors, enriched with a genealogical perspective; from a decidedly feminist vantage point. 4 | Ov Cristian Norocel ABBREVIATIONS Bulgarian National Union Attack (Национален съюз Атака, Ataka) Centre Party (Centerpartiet, C) Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna, KD) Christian–Democratic National Peasants’ Party (Partidul Naţional Ţărănesc Creştin Democrat, PNŢ–CD) Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti, DF) Democratic Party (Partidul Democrat, PD) Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR/Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ) French National Front (le Front National, FN) Greater Romania Magazine (Revista România Mare, RRM) Greater Romania Party (Partidul România Mare, PRM) Left Party (Vänsterpartiet, V) Liberal People’s Party (Folkpartiet liberalerna, FP) Moderate (Coalition) Party (Moderata samlingspartiet, M) Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom, Jobbik) National Democrats (Nationaldemokraterna, ND) National Front (le Front National, FN) National Liberal Party (Partidul Naţional Liberal, PNL) New Democracy (Ny Demokrati, NyD) New Generation Party (Partidul Noua Generaţie, PNG) New Right (la Nouvelle Droite, ND) Norwegian Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet/Framstegspartiet, FrP) Party of Social Democracy in Romania (Partidul Democraţiei Sociale în România, PDSR) Romanian Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat Român, PSDR) Romanian Humanist Party (Partidul Umanist Român, PUR) Social Democratic Party (Romania) (Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) Social Democratic Party (Sweden) (Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti, SAP) Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) Sweden Democrat Courier (SD–Kuriren, SD–K) Swedish Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna, MP) (True) Finns (Party) (Perussuomalaiset, PS/Sannfinländarna, SF) OUR PEOPLE – A TIGHT–KNIT FAMILY | 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... 3 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. 8 1 FOR FOLK – FOR FAMILY: STUDYING RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ................................................................................................. 11 1.1 THE ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL IDEOLOGY: RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM .................... 17 1.1.1 POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, DISCOURSE, AND LANGUAGE: ENTER CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS ........................................................................................................................... 19 1.1.2 A GENEALOGY OF GENDERED CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS: AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................ 21 1.1.3 DELIMITATIONS: EMPIRICAL MATERIAL, TIMEFRAME, CASES, AND LANGUAGE(S) ....................................................................................................................... 22 1.2 DISPOSITION OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................. 26 2 THEORETICAL AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK (I): CHALLENGING THE LACK OF GENDER IN THEORIES OF RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM ........................... 32 2.1 THEORISING RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM: THE SILENCE ABOUT GENDER ............... 35 2.1.1 THE RADICAL RIGHT POPULIST PARTY FAMILY ................................................... 39 2.1.2 THE CONSTRUCTED UNITY OF THE PEOPLE ........................................................... 44 2.1.3 A MANICHEAN OPPOSITION: THE PEOPLE AND THE ELITE ................................. 45 2.1.4 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE AND CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP ............ 47 2.2 THE PROBLEM OF GENDER–BLIND RADICAL RIGHT POPULIST THEORISING .......... 50 3 THEORETICAL AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK (II): BRINGING GENDER IN THE STUDY OF RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM .............................................................. 52 3.1. FROM THE UNIVERSAL WOMAN TO THE PERFORMATIVE OF GENDER: INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSES OF FEMININITIES AND MASCULINITIES .......................... 54 3.1.1 GENDERED NATION – NATIONED GENDER .............................................................. 61 3.1.2 NORMATIVE MOTHERHOOD AND THE NATION ..................................................... 64 3.1.3 WOMEN, FEMININITIES, AND THE NATION – THE BURDEN OF HETERONORMATIVITY ....................................................................................................... 67 3.1.4 MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE NATION – HEADING THE FAMILY AND THE PEOPLE ................................................................................................................................... 70 3.2 FOR GENDER–SENSITIVE RESEARCH OF RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM ........................73 4 METHODOLOGICAL NOTES AND CHOICE OF EMPIRICAL MATERIAL .................. 76 4.1 CRITICAL CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR THEORY: ADDRESSING THE AMBIGUITY OF METAPHORS ............................................................................................................................... 78 4.1.1 THE LIMITATIONS OF RHETORICAL ANALYSES OF METAPHORS: EXAMPLES FROM ROMANIA AND SWEDEN ......................................................................................... 80 4.1.2 THE CONCEPTUAL TURN IN THE ANALYSES OF METAPHORS AND CRITICISMS OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR THEORY...................................................... 83 4.1.3 FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS IN CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR THEORY ................... 90 6 | Ov Cristian Norocel 4.1.4 CRITICAL METAPHOR THEORY AND THE GENEALOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: INNOVATIVE WAYS TO INVESTIGATE CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS ........................... 94 4.2 A GENEALOGY OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS AT WORK IN RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM IN ROMANIA AND SWEDEN .................................................................................. 99 5 WE WILL BE AGAIN WHAT WE ONCE WERE AND EVEN MORE THAN THAT! THE TRIBUNE TO TAKE CARE OF THE ROMANIAN FAMILY (2000–2009) ............... 107 5.1 PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN ROMANIA THROUGH A FEMINIST LENS ......... 108 5.2 ROMANIA IS A FAMILY ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER .................................................. 113 5.2.1 ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL FAMILY ........... 115 5.2.2 THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL FAMILY AND ITS DEPENDANTS ............................. 119 5.2.3 WOMEN, POLITICS, AND THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL FAMILY ..........................122 5.2.4 THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL FAMILY AND ITS OTHERS .......................................124 5.3 CORNELIU VADIM TUDOR EMBODYING THE TRIBUNE AS A STRICT FATHER......... 127 5.4 THE USE OF GENDERED CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN ROMANIAN RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM ......................................................................................................................134