Multiculturalism and the European far-right: Looking for the Other

Abstract

In the article, the phenomenon of multiculturalism is analyzed through the prism of different approaches to its understanding (dynamic and static) and the contradictions its implementation often entails (the lack of a coherent strategy, contradiction between individual and collective rights, culturalization of social discrepancies). The author scrutinizes the use of multiculturalism in right-wing and identitarian movements’ discourse against the background of their exploitation of a negative image of migration and a migrant as a constituting Other. The author proves that, since populism is based on exploitation of narratives that cause emotional reaction of the audience, anti-immigration discourse is extremely relevant to the right-wing populist rhetoric. The author analyzes the conspiracy myths of “great replacement” and “Eurabia” that are juxtaposed to the multicultural myth; also, the alternative ethnopluralism (ethno-differentialism) theory comes under scrutiny. The latter is invoked by the European “New Right”, followed by the right-wing populists and identitarianists, to justify the necessity of the growth of all cultures in the framework of different societies. The author concludes that, in spite of the existing contradictions, multiculturalism is still the most efficient strategy of ethnopolitical management. It will inevitably come to a clash with right-wing populist and identitarian discourses because of the very presence of the immigrants with different cultural background in the European countries.