The veil as an object of right-wing populist politics: a comparative perspective of Turkey, Sweden, and France

Abstract

In this article, we comparatively analyse radical right-wing parties’ intervention into the veil debate in Turkey, Sweden, and France which are characterised by different understandings of legal and normative secularism. We explore the intersection of gender and religion in the dynamic formation of populist categories and how they can be mobilised differently along the vertical and the horizontal axes by the example of the veil. In all three countries we have analysed capitalise on gender, religiosity and secularity, and the veil is exploited in drawing boundaries between the People and non-People but also between the People and the Elites. In this way, the meanings attributed to the veil are used as a mechanism of exclusion and of drawing the boundaries through gendered narratives of who belongs to the People.