ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how a discourse of civilizational European heritage coexists in varying degrees of tension with right-wing populism’s emphasis on the centrality of the nation. Although European right-wing populist parties have been vocal in their opposition to the European Union, they have also often invoked a notion of ‘European heritage’ to legitimize their anti-immigrant positions and to discriminate against migrants and minorities based on alleged irreconcilable civilizational differences between ‘European values’ and Islam. We investigate the diffusion of this ‘cultural racism’ from the party elites to their supporters, analyzing interviews with populist voters in five European countries: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands. Our findings show that while populists locate the foundations of European heritage in Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions, this acknowledgement does not translate into a belief in a common European culture. Ultimately, it is the cultural construction of an existential civilizational threat coming from multiculturalism and a perceived ‘Islamization’ of Europe that feeds populist narratives of a common European heritage.
