A Game of Masks: The Communicative Performance of the Portuguese Populist Far-Right

Abstract

This chapter aims to unpack the game of masks involved in the stagecraft of the far-right populist communicative performance while building an image and messaging from the margins of the conventional political establishment to seek legitimization and integration in it. Indeed, an analysis ranging from the ground-laying phase of the Chega party to being established as the third political force in the country’s parliament reveals Ventura matching most of, if not all, far-right’s populist multidimensional content framing and indicators of communicative style. The repertoire of communicative performance also offers critical evidence of the chameleonic nature of both the ideational and performative populisms across different national contexts.