A fence of opportunity: on how Vox radical right populist narratives frame and fuel crises in the border between Spain and Morocco

Olivas Osuna, José Javier ORCID: 0000-0002-9877-8480 (2024) A fence of opportunity: on how Vox radical right populist narratives frame and fuel crises in the border between Spain and Morocco. Journal of Language and Politics, 23 (3). 323 - 347. ISSN 1569-2159

Text (A fence of opportunity On how Vox’s radical right populist narratives frame and fuel crises in the border between Spain and Morocco) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (488kB)

• Scopus publication

Abstract

This article deconstructs the parliamentary discourses regarding two migratory incidents in Ceuta, May 2021, and Melilla, June 2022, when hundreds of people attempted to cross the fences that separate Morocco from Spain. Most of them were immediately deported, many injured, and several died. This analysis compares the density of populist, anti-populist, re-bordering, and de-bordering references in forty-five speeches at the Spanish Congress regarding both tragic events. Vox speakers articulate a distinct discourse that instrumentalises these incidents to convey a sense of existential crisis and to (re)define a populist right-wing political identity based on moral hierarchies, a homogenising conception of society and the exclusion of a dangerous “other.” Meanwhile some parties applied a populist logic to promote de-bordering views and others combined re-bordering and de-bordering claims without imposing a populist frame. This was an opportunity to exhibit a progressive sense of place in borderlands contrasting with Vox’s reactionary one.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/1569...
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author
Divisions:	IGA: LSE IDEAS
Subjects:	J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	18 Mar 2024 10:18
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122408

Actions (login required)

View Item