Redefining the Social Contract? How the Populist Radical Right Approaches the Concepts of Democracy and Freedom(s)

The populist radical right (PRR) in Europe has long been portrayed as small fringe groups at the outskirts of mainstream politics, groups with neo-fascist agendas, hostile to the very notions of democracy and freedom(s). And yet, over the past few decades, PRR actors have not only successfully adopted the mainstream liberal democratic vocabulary but also adapted it to their own ideological needs, turning such concepts as democracy or freedom(s) into key discursive tools in their strategies of power struggle. This paper uncovers mechanisms behind the discursive construction of the concepts of democracy and freedom(s) by European PRR parties in electoral contexts. By focusing on the cases of two very dissimilar PRR parties from different contexts in the common EU framework – the French National Rally and Polish Law and Justice – the paper offers a (synchronic as well as longitudinal) comparative analysis of electoral speeches given by their respective leaders between 2007 and 2023. The analysis combines elements of Rhetorical-Performative Analysis with some methods and techniques of the Discourse-Historical Approach to CDA dealing with functional grammar, reference analysis, and pragmatics. The paper shows that by appropriating the concepts of democracy and freedom(s) and redefining their content along populist, nativist, and authoritarian lines, the PRR effectively normalises and mainstreams its (previously marginal and radical) views and positions. The normalisation and mainstreaming of illiberal conceptions of democracy and freedom(s) effectively allow the PRR to propose an alternative to the established (liberal democratic) social contract.