The increasing prominence of populist radical-right (PRR) parties across Europe has
reignited critical debates about how societies confront and reinterpret their authoritarian
pasts, particularly fascist legacies. By framing these periods as golden ages of stability, order,
or cultural pride, PRR parties strategically invoke historical memory to normalize their
ideologies and expand their electoral appeal. This study examines how PRR parties construct
and leverage authoritarian nostalgia, with a specific focus on the ways in which distinct
national relationships to fascist histories—collaboration, resistance, or victimhood—shape
the deployment of these narratives.
Through a computational analysis of parliamentary debates and PRR party rhetoric, this
research investigates how authoritarian nostalgia is constructed in different contexts. Large-
scale text analysis tools and machine learning methods are employed to uncover patterns in
how PRR parties reference and reframe fascist (or antifascist) pasts. This computational
approach enables the identification of both cross-national trends and country-specific
strategies, offering novel insights into the language and framing of nostalgia in PRR
discourse.
The study addresses three central questions: (1) How do PRR parties evoke the authoritarian
past in their rhetoric? (2) To what extent do territorial and historical contexts influence these
references, particularly in relation to each country’s fascist history? (3) How do PRR parties
use institutional platforms, such as parliaments, to legitimize and mainstream revisionist
narratives about the fascist past? These questions guide an exploration of how authoritarian
nostalgia functions as a political resource, facilitating the normalization of radical-right
ideologies within democratic institutions.
By focusing on fascist histories, this research shifts away from conventional East-West
divisions to consider the role of specific national relationships to authoritarian legacies. PRR
parties strategically reframe these histories to downplay complicity in fascist atrocities while
amplifying narratives of national pride and cultural resilience. This process varies across
different historical contexts: for example, former collaborator states often emphasize cultural
continuity, while victim states may foreground narratives of resistance or martyrdom.
The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how PRR parties exploit historical
memory to reshape societal norms and expand their influence. The computational analysis
highlights subtle yet systematic rhetorical shifts that reinforce authoritarian nostalgia while
avoiding overt associations with fascist ideologies. By tracing these strategies across multiple
countries, the study provides critical insights into how PRR parties navigate the constraints of
democratic systems to mainstream revisionist narratives.
This research underscores the importance of addressing the politicization of historical
memory in combating the normalization of radical-right ideologies. By combining
computational methods with a comparative focus on national relationships to fascist histories,
it offers a robust framework for analyzing the interplay between political discourse and
historical revisionism in the context of PRR ascendance.