The Covid-19 Crisis as an Ideological Armory for the Populist Right in Spain and Italy

As Europe begins to emerge from a troublesome part of the pandemic, we begin to evaluate emerging political damages. Now more than ever, we must understand how radical right populist parties design their message toward vulnerable, crisis-shaken populations. Disentangling common denominators of the various political strands subscribed to an approximate heterogeneous radical right-wing populist tradition, this interdisciplinary research project purports to explore the new populist radical right discourse triggered by the crisis in Spain and Italy, and to what extent its rhetoric can be substantiated by analysing how right-wing populist parties can corrode liberal democracies in times of crisis. The objective of this study is to reflect critically on the interplay between democracy and populism, exploring recent discursive developments of the parties Vox and The League and its power relations, which are linked to the exogenous shocks provoked by the pandemic. The author used qualitative techniques of content analysis, and conducted interviews with scholars and political actors, and group discussions with local actors for several months.