Longing for the “good old days” of our country: National nostalgia as a new master-frame of populist radical right parties

Abstract

Scholars and commentators have argued that national nostalgia forms a germane element of the rhetoric of populist radical right parties (PRRP). We addressed the national nostalgia component of PRRP ideology with respect to voters. Relying on political science theorizing and social psychological evidence, we proposed that national nostalgia forms a new emotion-based explanation for PRRP support within the cultural grievance framework. National nostalgia reflects grievances over perceived loss of the ethnically and culturally homogeneous moral community. Such grievances are subsequently mobilized by PRRP to justify and increase the persuasiveness of their nativist ideology. We hypothesized that voters who experience higher national nostalgia would evince stronger support for PRRP, due to national nostalgia's association with endorsement of PRRP's nativist ideology (i.e., ethnic nationhood and anti-Muslim attitudes). We tested this hypothesis by surveying a representative sample of native majority members in The Netherlands (N = 1,934). The results were consistent with the hypothesis, highlighting the relevance of national nostalgia for understanding PRRP success.