Description
Book SynopsisDespite the recent wealth of literature on national populism, research has often overlooked one crucial aspect: the border. This innovative book bridges these key concepts, providing a new theoretical conceptualisation of the interplay between populism, nationalism and territorial borders.
In this book, borders are not considered as mere institutional boundaries between nation states; on the contrary, the authors adopt a multi-dimensional view of borders as narratives, issues and territorial spaces of mobilisation. Reconsidering the contemporary politicisation of borders in Western Europe, the authors investigate how national populism deals with territorial borders and the various meanings they embody. Empirical case studies focusing on the Swiss borderlands explore parties’ programmes and discourses, representatives’ attitudes, as well as public opinion and voting behaviour, offering key insights into how political actors and citizens react to trends such as growing transnational flows, globalisation and European integration.
This timely book, based on original party sources and surveys, will be an essential resource for students and scholars of political science, political sociology, border studies, European integration, Euroscepticism and Swiss politics. Its context-oriented analysis will also prove beneficial to practitioners and representatives involved in cross-border cooperation.
Trade Review‘This book investigates instrumentalisation of borders by national-populist parties from different interdisciplinary perspectives while focusing on a single case study, i.e. Switzerland during the COVID-19 crisis. The theoretical approach which distinguishes between borders as issues, narratives and territorial spaces of mobilisation is innovative and should be applied to other contested regions and crises. A must-read for everybody who would like to understand the intricacies of globalised border- and body politics.’ -- Ruth Wodak, Lancaster University, UK
Table of ContentsContents: 1 Introduction: national populism and the politicisation of borders in a changing Europe 1 Oscar Mazzoleni PART I NATIONAL POPULISTS’ CONSTRUCTION OF BORDERS 2 The politicisation of borders in national-populist discourse: Geneva and Ticino during the COVID-19 pandemic 17 Cecilia Biancalana and Grégoire Yerly 3 Convergence without conflict? Trans-border national-populist strategies in multi-scalar spaces of mobilisation 37 Cecilia Biancalana and Oscar Mazzoleni 4 Framing the people and the elites: two models of national-populist border politicisation. The case of the Geneva and Basel cross-border regions 55 Grégoire Yerly 5 Do bordering preferences affect the populist attitudes of citizens? 78 Laurent Bernhard PART II BORDERS AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION 6 What drives elite opinions on European integration? Examining the territorial dimension 96 Lukas Lauener and Laurent Bernhard 7 Breaking down public opinion on European integration: the role of national borders 119 Lukas Lauener 8 Direct democracy, border residence and Euroscepticism: evidence from a proposition to terminate the free movement of persons between Switzerland and the European Union 143 Laurent Bernhard and Lukas Lauener PART III CITIZENS’ ATTITUDES IN CROSS-BORDER SPACES OF MOBILISATION 9 Cross-border relations and national-populist politicisation: a citizen perspective 166 Andrea Pilotti and Oscar Mazzoleni 10 Between economy and constituency: ambivalent attitudes towards cross-border workers 193 Oscar Mazzoleni and Andrea Pilotti 11 Not really a “left-behind” place: national-populist re-bordering in a rich but declining periphery 210 Oscar Mazzoleni and Andrea Pilotti 12 Conclusions: multi-scalar national populism and border politicisation 229 Cecilia Biancalana and Oscar Mazzoleni Index
