European left-wing populism and sovereignty: a comparative analysis of the national-popular discourses of the Belgian (PTB), French (LFI), Northern Irish (Sinn Féin) and Spanish (Podemos) cases

Scholars have long mainly associated the concept of populism – and its corollaries, such as sovereignty – with radical right political parties. However, in Europe, since the 2010s, the rise and electoral breakthroughs of the radical left have been based on populist elements, i.e. on rhetoric (1) opposing the people to the elite, and (2) demanding a radicalisation of democracy through the concept of popular sovereignty. Most scholars retain a minimal definition of populism based on three elements (people- centrism, anti-elitism, popular sovereignty) and therefore consider national sovereignty as a corollary of left-wing populist discourses. On the contrary, EuLeSov will consider national sovereignty as a constitutive element of (partisan) left-wing populism. The project focuses on internal party dynamics (membership and leadership) and aims to examine why and how the people the people-centrism and anti-elitism of European left-wing populist parties is built on the concept of popular sovereignty (plebs-people) but also on that of national sovereignty (nation-people). The project applies a mixed-methods research design to the comparative study of four political organizations (La France insoumise [Unbowed France, LFI], Parti du travail de Belgique [Workers’ Party of Belgium, PTB], Podemos [We Can] and Sinn Féin [Ourselves]) in four countries (France, Belgium, Spain and Northern Ireland). This empirical approach will provide a better understanding of the mutations that the radical left party family has known since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Examining the articulation between left-wing populism and national sovereignty is today crucial as some of these parties have succeeded in taking power and others are at the verge of power. Understanding their relationship to national sovereignty contributes to the understanding of the major political changes that Western Europe has experienced since the Great Recession.