NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

political elite and explains to a large extent the high popularity of the populist use of ethnic identity, national symbols, myths, stereotypes and so forth.

Scheme No. 1

Nationalism Ideology Main characteristics: • Strict differentiation between one ethnic group and another ethic group • Tendency towards exclusion

Populism Political style Main characteristics: • Need for the construction of a homogenouse identity • Tendency towards exclusion

Nationalist Populism Mobilisation Strategy

Main goals: • Mobilisation of the electorate • Homogenisation of the nation (ethnic group) • Exclusion of “others”

Areas of manifestation: • Positive national self-presentation • Economic nationalism • Animosity toward “others”

As in the case of nationalism, some scholars have underlined the distinction between the “Western” and “Eastern” type of populism. Cass Mudde, for example, argues that: “While in Western Europe, the word populism is generally used to denote postmodern or ‘more moderate’ types of ‘Extreme Right’ or “Radical Right” parties, in Eastern (and Central – T. S.) Europe it is considered to be a more general phenomenon, spread across the ideological spectrum.” 50

50 C. Mudde, “In the name of the Peasantry, the Proletarian, and the People: Populism in Eastern Europe”, Y. Mény, Y., Surel (eds.) Democracies and the Populist Challenge. (Palgrave, 2002), p. 214.

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