‘A threat to us’: The interplay of insecurity and enmity narratives in left-wing populism
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13691481221078187 |
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481221078187
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2022, Vol. 24(3) 511 –525
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/13691481221078187
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‘A threat to us’: The interplay
of insecurity and enmity
narratives in left-wing populism
Donatella Bonansinga
Abstract
Left-wing populists are understudied in populism research and little is known on how enmity and
insecurity narratives interplay in their rhetoric. Using a narrative framework to capture insecurity
in the ‘enemification’ of elites, this article examines left-populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon and La
France Insoumise. The analysis reveals a multifaceted construction of national, supranational and
international elites as sources of insecurity, based on (a) the threats they pose, (b) the uncertainty
they generate and (c) their failure to protect citizens. The article makes two contributions to the
populism and International Relations literatures. First, it provides empirical evidence to contest
the hypothesis that left populism promotes pluralist agonism rather than antagonism. Second, it
shows how populists across the spectrum can use insecurity-centred narratives to delegitimise
elites from speaking security and promote an agenda centred on popular sovereignty.
Keywords
insecurity, La France Insoumise, left populism, Mélenchon, narratives
Introduction
The relevance of insecurity for populist success has been highlighted in a number of
scholarly works, both on the so-called ‘demand’ and ‘supply’ sides of populism research.
On one hand, scholars have shown how grievances, anxieties and ontological insecurities
at the heart of advanced post-industrial societies drive citizens closer to populist parties
(Grande and Kriesi, 2012; Kinnvall, 2018; Kinnvall et al., 2018); on the other hand, nar-
ratives of insecurity (Béland, 2019; Bonansinga, 2021), fear (Wodak, 2015) and crisis
(Homolar and Scholz, 2019; Moffitt, 2015) have been found to play a distinctive role in
the discursive repertoire of populist actors.
The empirical research focus, however, is often on a specific manifestation of populism
– its radical right subtype. In more general terms, ‘populism’ denotes a vision of politics as
the moral struggle between a good ‘people’ and a self-serving ‘elite’ accused of depriving
the former of its very democratic power and sovereignty (Mudde, 2004). Since the populist
Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Corresponding author:
Donatella Bonansinga, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Email: d.bonansinga@pgr.bham.ac.uk
1078187BPI0010.1177/13691481221078187The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsBonansinga
research-article2022
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