Using the past in populist communicational strategies: How the memory of Securitate is instrumentalised in Romanian politics?

Date

2020

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Abstract

Description

This chapter investigates how political strategies interrelate populist rhetoric with memory issues. By looking at the case of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) from Romania, between 2017-2019, this chapter reveals how the slide to populism, generated by cyclical confrontations with the rule of law institutions, steered the PSD to adopt conspirational beliefs and appeal to traumatic memories to frame the judiciary as the new Securitate. Through the use of discourse analysis and virtual ethnography, this chapter analyses party resolutions and political rallies. This chapter explains how the populist rhetoric created a new hegemonic narrative of the judiciary, by intersecting its values and symbolism with the memory of the former Securitate from the Communist period.

Keywords

parties, Romania, populism, rule of law, memory

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