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The aim of this study is to explore whether Fratelli d’Italia can be classified as a populist radical right party based on their 2022 electoral manifesto. This thesis puts much emphasis on reviewing the existing literature on the understanding and definition of the populist radical right and the radical right. This is since the concept itself has been written extensively on with many different definitions and terminology existing in the scholarly field. Due to this confusion in how to define the concept this study will explain the chosen definition of the populist radical right applied in this thesis in depth. This thesis will apply Mudde’s (2007) definition of the populist radical with the main ideological attributes being: authoritarianism, nativism and, populism. The selected method for this study is qualitative content analysis (QCA) which will operationalize the ideological attributes of the populist radical right into main – and subcategories that will guide the analysis of FdI’s 2022 manifesto. The findings from analysing the party’s 2022 manifesto will show that the party can still be assigned to the populist radical right, although, with a revised tone compared to previous manifestos issued from FdI. The result of this study contributes to existing research on contemporary Italian politics and to the study of ideologies.

The aim of this study is to explore whether Fratelli d’Italia can be classified as a populist radical right party based on their 2022 electoral manifesto. This thesis puts much emphasis on reviewing the existing literature on the understanding and definition of the populist radical right and the radical right. This is since the concept itself has been written extensively on with many different definitions and terminology existing in the scholarly field. Due to this confusion in how to define the concept this study will explain the chosen definition of the populist radical right applied in this thesis in depth. This thesis will apply Mudde’s (2007) definition of the populist radical with the main ideological attributes being: authoritarianism, nativism and, populism. The selected method for this study is qualitative content analysis (QCA) which will operationalize the ideological attributes of the populist radical right into main – and subcategories that will guide the analysis of FdI’s 2022 manifesto. The findings from analysing the party’s 2022 manifesto will show that the party can still be assigned to the populist radical right, although, with a revised tone compared to previous manifestos issued from FdI. The result of this study contributes to existing research on contemporary Italian politics and to the study of ideologies.

The 2022 Italian election was won by the populist radical right party Fratelli d’Italia. The party's large increase from the previous election is of interest as radical right-wing populist parties are growing around Europe. A qualitative case study was conducted based on framing theory and the factors that are of interest to voters from a populist perspective. In conclusion, Fratelli d'Italia succeeded in increasing its voter support by pursuing a policy with clear nationalism, strong leadership, and a large presence on social media as well as traditional media, which resulted in their message reaching voters in several different socioeconomic groups. Fratelli d'Italia clearly presents itself as a right-wing populist party both based on their election manifesto as well as based on what they present in the various factors from which the analysis was based.

This paper examines the discourse surrounding Italian gastronationalism throughout the previous four European Parliament elections to gain a deeper comprehension of the escalating significance of gastronationalism over the past two decades. In this examination, the notion of gastronationalism, situated within the wider context of banal nationalism, is elucidated, and delineated to achieve the intended objective. Utilizing a case study approach, this research investigates the right-wing political party "Alleanza Nazionale / Fratelli d'Italia" through an analysis of prominent party members' discourse in newspapers and social media platforms. The findings reveal a notable escalation in the employment of gastronationalism in AN/FdI's political rhetoric from 2014 to 2019, which bears a discernible correlation with the linguistic style and communicative techniques employed by the Italian Fascist Party, originally established by Benito Mussolini.

This paper examines the discourse surrounding Italian gastronationalism throughout the previous four European Parliament elections to gain a deeper comprehension of the escalating significance of gastronationalism over the past two decades. In this examination, the notion of gastronationalism, situated within the wider context of banal nationalism, is elucidated, and delineated to achieve the intended objective. Utilizing a case study approach, this research investigates the right-wing political party "Alleanza Nazionale / Fratelli d'Italia" through an analysis of prominent party members' discourse in newspapers and social media platforms. The findings reveal a notable escalation in the employment of gastronationalism in AN/FdI's political rhetoric from 2014 to 2019, which bears a discernible correlation with the linguistic style and communicative techniques employed by the Italian Fascist Party, originally established by Benito Mussolini.

The 2022 Italian election was won by the populist radical right party Fratelli d’Italia. The party's large increase from the previous election is of interest as radical right-wing populist parties are growing around Europe. A qualitative case study was conducted based on framing theory and the factors that are of interest to voters from a populist perspective. In conclusion, Fratelli d'Italia succeeded in increasing its voter support by pursuing a policy with clear nationalism, strong leadership, and a large presence on social media as well as traditional media, which resulted in their message reaching voters in several different socioeconomic groups. Fratelli d'Italia clearly presents itself as a right-wing populist party both based on their election manifesto as well as based on what they present in the various factors from which the analysis was based.

Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) is the new rising star of Italian politics. Scholars and pundits briskly categorised it as a (new) populist radical right (PRR) party. Still, FdI’s newness needs to be properly framed. A splinter party of the Popolo della Libertà, it claims a direct lineage with the Alleanza Nazionale–two cases not easily agglutinated into the PRR family. The article analyses the (dis)continuity associated with FdI, examining ideology, organisation, and the continuity of elites. It demonstrates that FdI’s organisation and political elites largely overlap with its predecessor parties. However, FdI accomplished a major ideological rebranding, positioning itself as radically different from both the mainstream centre-right and the post-fascist tradition of the Italian right., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The coalition between Fratelli d’Italia, Lega, Forza Italia and some minor allies is expected to win the Italian general election on 25 September 2022 by a considerable margin, at least according to all the opinion polls. Rather surprisingly, much of the public debate in Italy, including the media, politicians and polling institutes, still refers to the right-wing bloc as a centre-right coalition despite the presence of two fully-fledged far-right parties. In this chapter, we will a) introduce the main political players competing in the September 2022 general election, i.e. the right-wing coalition, the centre-left coalition, the M5S and the ‘third pole’ (terzo polo) composed of Azione and Italia Viva; we will then b) consider the ways in which Fratelli d’Italia and Lega are competing on the same far-right platform and which characteristics may give FdI a competitive edge over Lega; and lastly we will c) reflect on the factors that may have enabled Italy’s far-right coalition to be considered moderate centre-right, a label used since 1994 to describe coalitions led by Berlusconi and which no longer seem fitting given the presence of the two far-right parties. In conclusion, we will identify at least two elements, in fact two sides of the same coin, supporting the persistence of the centre-right definition: a) the ambiguous and controversial role within the coalition of Forza Italia, whose alleged moderation has been cleverlty sold to grant a sort of continuity to the use of the centrodestra label as opposed to ‘right wing’ or ‘far right’; and b) the skilful way in which the Italian far-right has managed to normalize itself and enter the mainstream over the last decade.