What is it about?
This article adapts and applies a Polanyian political economic perspective to the study of neo-nationalism. It examines the cases of two European populist nationalist parties - Jobbik in Hungary and Front National in France. Citizens have supported neo-nationalist forces in line with the protection logic against increasing marketization of societies – a form of a Karl Polanyi’s "double movement."
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Why is it important?
People’s racial sensibilities do not exist in a vacuum. There is interaction between the insecurity manufactured by the state and the negative perceptions of the “Other.” Through blaming the “Other,” populist nationalists channel away the frustrations of middle- and working-class voters discontented with socio-economic decline.
Perspectives
The article updates the Polanyian "double-movement" thesis by adding two elements: voters’ perceptions and political actors’ resources. It highlights the role of nostalgic deprivation, relative deprivation, and status frustration in generating voters’ discontent. The article enriches the Polanyian idea that commodification of social life would automatically lead to counter-movements.
Dr Alexander Svitych
National University of Singapore
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Voting for Jobbik and the Front National, European Review of International Studies, April 2021, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/21967415-08010017.
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