C(h)ristian’s Blog

(Con-)testing and (Re-)Drawing the Political Boundaries: Acceptable and Unacceptable Political Performatives of Radical Right Populism(s) in the Nordic Context (DL: 15/01/14)

Workshop at XLVI FPSA Conference (soumeksi, tässä; på svenska, här) (6-7 March 2014, Tampere/Tammerfors)

There seems to an all too often blurred boundary line between what is acceptable and unacceptable in the political performatives (understood here to encompass all manners of communicative interaction pertaining to politics). A major line of disagreement is articulated around the commitment of political forces in the Nordic counties to address the multiple inequalities arising at the intersection of class, gender, ethnicity and/or race, sexuality, and religion in connection to contemporary socio-political transformations across Europe.

On this matter, radical right populist parties across the Nordic region appear to be most active in (con-)testing and (re-)drawing these political boundaries: from politicians writing offensive remarks about other religions on their personal blog with the admitted aim to test the limits of law, and high profile politicians that threaten people with an iron bar and shout racist and sexist slurs, to politicians that take pictures of far right acquaintances making the Nazi salute in the plenary of national parliament, and disillusioned party members that resort to violence against their political opponents. Some of the political performatives described above are eventually deemed unacceptable and lead to the ostracizing of the politician in question and condemnation of described political performative. However, some other political performatives lead to a dramatic redrawing of the boundary for what is deemed acceptable in the polity under scrutiny.

With this in mind, the workshop is envisaged to reunite papers that explore the radical right populist parties in the Nordic region with a particular attention being paid to those instances of (con-)testing and (re-)drawing  of the political boundaries, such as but not limited to: normalization of anti-immigration rhetoric and welfare chauvinist reasoning, support of the backlash against feminism, contestation of the participatory democratic structures, and utilizing violence as a means of solving political confrontations.

Keywords: inclusion/exclusion, state feminism/antifeminist backlash, radical right populism, democratic participation/political violence.

Workshop language: English

Paper abstracts shall be sent to BOTH workshop chair Cristian Norocel (cristian.norocel(at)helsinki.fi) and to FPSA Conference Secretary Maija Mattila (Maija.Mattila(at)uta.fi) before 15 January 2014.

Tags: antifeminism, democratic participation, exclusion, inclusion, political sociology, political violence, politiikan tutkimuksen päivät, radical right populism, radical right populist parties, Tammerfors, Tampere

TAPRI, TOAS, Tampere/Tammerfors

So, now after a couple of days I do have a vague idea about what is going on and where am I heading to. To start with the positive aspects:

TAPRI – yesterday and today I had the chance to talk and chatter with the people working here (for a second I hesitated between writing ‘here’, and ‘there’; but it is here since I am still in the city by the Tammerkoski). People have different research interests, and have done quite different things in their lives so talking to them was enriching. Another positive aspect is the multicultural nature of the whole team…that is important, I think. I can’t wait putting some things in order in my own research project and start working seriously on my project. I just need more structure and discipline ( a mental ‘redning och reda’).

TOAS – (the student housing association here) they are walking on the thin line between gratitude and disillusionment. I did manage to get a room with furniture (basically, a BED, one can’t imagine how important this is until one needs it!), but on a corridor, with some kind of freaky conditions (my times at CEU were of luxury compared to this! my room was twice as big, the window ditto and I had a carpeted room, not covered in plastic!). Even more annoying is the fact that my internet (provided by the uni of course, part of the agreement) does not work, so now I am using a friendly sharing network. And for all this fun I pay a hefty price. I am already thinking to start looking for greener pastures… or at least better rooms.

Tampere/Tammerfors – the past few days the city has been DUSTY. This is the only word that comes into my mind, whenever I think of it. Yes, lovely red-bricked buildings, yes interesting places, yes nice bridge, but above all, dust. Dust has it all, and does it all. My suede shoes gave up already in front of such a continuous siege. Instead of a nice black they have more of a clay-ish shade of something dark. I am seriously thinking I should start using mountaineering shoes. A colleague at work said jokingly (I hope) that the dust will eventually disappear with the first heavy rain. That is a scary thought.

What if it does not rain?

Tags: Tammerfors, Tampere, TOAS