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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 23:2 (2024) ► pp.176–196

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Borderless fear?

How right-wing populism aligns in affectively framing migration as a security threat in Austria and Slovenia

ORCiD logo with link | Free University of Berlin
ORCiD logo with link | University of Ljubljana | Peace InstituteLjubljana
ORCiD logo with link | University of Vienna
ORCiD logo with link | Peace InstituteLjubljana
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the authors.

Published online: 28 November 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22026.thi
Abstract
Studies have highlighted differences between right-wing populism in Western and Central Eastern Europe but suggested that discourses have been converging since the so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015. This article examines this claim by focusing on right-wing populist frames and affective communication on migration in Austria and Slovenia. Taking a communication-centred approach, the study is based on a critical frame analysis of 70 speeches from far-right to centre-right parties in parliamentary debates on migration between 2015 and 2019. The results show that right-wing populist discourses in the two adjacent countries have aligned in appealing to affects, particularly to fear and in framing migration as a threat to security and culture. Despite differences in mobilizing affects, the findings indicate a mutual alignment of right-wing populism beyond borders, signalling a potential risk of a broader right-wing populist bloc unified by fear of migration.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Right-wing populism in Austria and Slovenia
  • 3.Right-wing populist discourse and affects. Theoretical considerations
  • 4.Material and method
  • 5.Securitarian mobilization of right-wing populist migration frames
  • 6.The affective structure of right-wing populist discourses
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Literature
References (59)
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