The impact of the cultural backlash on the rise of european national populism

: the fear of ethnic disappearance: Cross-Country Study of Austria and Hungary

Abstract

National Populists are winning seats around Europe and liberal democracy finds itself increasingly undermined. According to the report Democracy in Crisis (2020)1, the number of countries that have suffered democratic setbacks surpasses the number having achieved gains in this realm. This dissertation for the MA Program in Governance, Leadership and Democracy Studies will reflect on how the cultural backlash is fueling white identity resentments through the fear of ethnic change. According to Kaufmann (2018), in order to understand the phenomenon of national populism, the issue of migration “is central and ethnic change is the story.” (Kaufmann 2018,11). According to Goodwin and Eatwell (2018) the national populist phenomenon reflects Deeprooted fears about immigration and hyper ethnic change (Goodwin and Eatwell 2018,132). People feel instinctively negative about how immigration could threaten their national identity, and consequently lead to the destruction of the wider group identity, calling into question the future of the white majority (Taub 2016; Kaufmann 2018; Eatwell and Goodwin 2018).

Date of Award	21 May 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Pereira Coutinho (Supervisor)