Domain-Dependent National Pride and Support for the Radical Right: Pride in the Nation's History

Abstract

Populist radical right-wing's rhetoric often includes a reference to the nation's past when everything was supposed to be better. This runs from considered heroic times of the country in terms of war victory and economic grandeur to an idealized past which fits the ideology of nativism, meaning that a homogeneous society is preferred over a multicultural one. In this contribution, we study to what extent voters for the radical right indeed differ from voters of other party families in their pride in the nation's history. We compare this to other forms of domain-dependent national pride. Earlier studies suggested that not only nostalgia differentiates the radical right electorate from others, but that other positive attitudes in relation to the nation may do so as well. Making use of the International Social Survey Program data on national identity, we study domain-dependent national pride across European nations to answer whether it is pride in the nation's history that characterizes radical right voters when accounting for other dimensions of national attitudes.