• Books. Five essays on the return? of fascism
  • The paper sphere: what is and what is not fascism?

The success of the party led by Santiago Abascal in the elections continues to feed the debate on the ideological nature of Vox. How a party defined as extreme right or fascism has achieved 52 deputies? The problem of cataloging Vox also faces two important problems. First, Vox is a party in the phase of organizational and ideological consolidation . Second, as is the case with Podemos and communism, Vox is systematically delegitimized and by elevation resorting to the concept of fascism or some substitute of the extreme right. This ends up blurring the condition of the party and the possibility of a consistent analysis.

Perhaps a good starting point to understand what Vox is in relation to fascism and its universe of meanings is to recover the distinction between "extreme right" and "radical right." A distinction made by Cas Mudde, perhaps the most cited author in conceptualizing populism: "extreme right," like "extreme left," means the denial of democracy ; while "radical right," as "radical left," means an acceptance of democracy as a procedure, but combined with a discourse of opposition to certain liberal principles of the system, such as pluralism and some rights of Western constitutionalism.

A good analysis of the success of Vox should therefore abandon the false track of fascism and focus the shot on two fundamental elements of his speech. The first, its ability to mobilize citizens willing to respond to the prevailing political and cultural climate, defined as progressive hegemony and perceived as hostile to Spanish identity. The second, its ability to champion a discourse against the political 'establishment', which is responsible for the crisis situation. An idea that inspires Vox's speech in a powerful way, as one of his founding texts points out: «A small, co-opted and oligarchic group of party leaders manages the State at its discretion». And that takes root in the ideas of some sectors of Popular Alliance critical of the 1978 Constitution , as of the new political system born of the Transition to which they defined as "partitocracy."

These ideas today connect Vox with the general model of the European radical populist party on the right, where Abascal's party brings the Spanish accent. A cataloging that should not bother, when the party itself has boldly sought, from its lowest hours to the current success, the recognition of figures such as Orban, Le Pen, Salvini or Bannon . Now, as in all parties, the discourse is subject to the strategy of political survival. Vox is not, nor will be, an exception to the rule.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Politics
  • Vox

10-NE general lessons 2019, live | A 70-year-old man arrested for entering a school with a loaded weapon and a razor

General Elections 10 NBaleares returns to the polls to try to end the blockade

General elections 2019Vox becomes third political force in Alicante and sweeps the Vega Baja