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Equivocal Euroscepticism: How Populist Radical Right Parties Can Have Their EU Cake and Eat It
Author(s) -
Heinisch Reinhard,
McDonnell Duncan,
Werner Annika
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/jcms.13055
Subject(s) - parliament , radical right , political science , political economy , ambivalence , league , european integration , order (exchange) , politics , european union , law , sociology , economics , social psychology , economic policy , psychology , physics , finance , astronomy
Conceptualizations and measurements of Euroscepticism tend to assume that, while parties may change positions from one period to another, they unequivocally espouse hard or soft euroscepticism at a given point in time. However, there are good theoretical reasons for some parties not to do so, in order to speak to different audiences and keep their decision‐making options open. Through an analysis of manifestos and leaders' speeches we show how two populist radical right parties, the Italian Northern League and the Austrian Freedom Party, espoused what we term ‘equivocal euroscepticism’ in the years around the 2014 European Parliament elections. Specifically, these parties articulated a distinct, albeit ambivalent, stance by combining elements of both soft and hard euroscepticism at the same time. We argue that ‘equivocal euroscepticism’ can give these parties strategic advantages, including the freedom to cooperate both with other radical right, hard eurosceptic, parties at European level and more moderate parties at the national one.