Abstract
This chapter analyses the impact of populist radical right discourse concerning religious roots on confessional politics in the Netherlands. As a case study, the chapter examines a debate organized by the youth-wing of the Reformed Political Party in 2017. This so-called Islam debate is used to analyse fissures and new formations in religio-political regimes in the Netherlands. By close-reading how participants in the debate relate to the populist radical right, the contribution draws out how Dutch reformed constituents internalize the rise of populism and combine it with existing confessional political registers. It shows how the rise of populism has enabled a mode of political discourse which is both secular and confessional. This aspect of the rise of the populist radical right both invigorates confessional parties such as the Reformed Political Party, but it also leads it into uncharted risky territory.
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Notes
- 1.
I base myself here and in what follows on fieldwork at the event, conducted together with my colleague Pooyan Tamimi Arab. The responsibility for text, translation, and interpretation is mine.
- 2.
In this article, I use Cas Mudde’s definition of right-wing political parties as characterized by ‘a core ideology that is a combination of nativism, authoritarianism, and populism’ (Mudde 2007: 26).
- 3.
I base myself here on the historical overview of the SGP published to commemorate its centenary (Vollaard and Voerman 2018).
- 4.
For the most recent statement of principles of the SGP and all past editions, see the repository created by the University of Groningen: http://pubnpp.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/?Search=&SortBy=date_issued&SearchIns[]=&Title=SGP%20beginselprogramma%27s&pQuery=Metadata_Party_program.party%20like%20%27SGP%25%27
- 5.
Henk Post ‘Een gespannen relatie. De SGP en de vrouw’, 2019.
- 6.
- 7.
Hemel (2017a).
- 8.
- 9.
Pim Fortuyn (1948–2002) was a politician and founder of what has been called the first populist radical right party of the Netherlands in the twenty-first century.
- 10.
Thierry Baudet (@thierrybaudet): ‘Atheïsme is in feite een vorm van christen zijn; een subcategorie van het Christendom.’ 10 September 2016, 12: 16. https://twitter.com/thierrybaudet/status/774688057320738816
- 11.
In 2017, a Dutch warehouse chain was accused of having changed the name of its assortment of Easter Eggs, which now appear in the spring catalogue as ‘hiding eggs’. This was first taken up by populist radical right politicians as an example of a ‘fatwa against Easter’ and it led prime minister Mark Rutte to declare on national radio that he sees it as his task as leader of the Netherlands, to make sure that ‘Easter remains Easter’. See Hemel (2017b) for further analysis.
- 12.
De Volkskrant, 8 August 2007. Genoeg is Genoeg: Verbied de Koran.
- 13.
Zwaag (2018), ‘Van theocractie naar godsdienstvrijheid: de SGP over religie en politie’.
- 14.
De Volkskrant 19 March 2014: ‘SGP-vrouw schrijft geschiedenis in Vlissingen’.
- 15.
‘Ik begrijp heel goed wat je bedoelt, Christelijke naastenliefde, maar het kan tot zelfdestructie leiden door intolerante mensen te importeren die dat kapot maken.’
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van den Hemel, E. (2020). The Boomerang-Effect of Culturalized Religion: The Impact of the Populist Radical Right on Confessional Politics in the Netherlands. In: Balkenhol, M., van den Hemel, E., Stengs, I. (eds) The Secular Sacred. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38050-2_2
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