The role of right-wing enjoyment in the normalisation of the far right
Kisić-Merino, Pasko LU
(2025)
In Review of International Studies
51(3).
p.449-471
- Abstract
- The retreat of the modern liberal order in contemporary democracies can be understood as co-constituted with the normalisation of the far right. The far right has increasingly accessed the political ‘mainstream’ through the enabling of erstwhile-disavowing centre-right and right-wing counterparts. In contexts of political ‘victory’, the identity (re)formation of these mainstream right-wing subjects and discourses can be observed and analysed through celebrations alongside the far right and in emotions and attitudes like elation, gloating, and self-righteousness. In this article, I address how victory-related manifestations of enjoyment – or jouissance – are articulated in the discourses of mainstream right-wing subjects. I ask what... (More)
- The retreat of the modern liberal order in contemporary democracies can be understood as co-constituted with the normalisation of the far right. The far right has increasingly accessed the political ‘mainstream’ through the enabling of erstwhile-disavowing centre-right and right-wing counterparts. In contexts of political ‘victory’, the identity (re)formation of these mainstream right-wing subjects and discourses can be observed and analysed through celebrations alongside the far right and in emotions and attitudes like elation, gloating, and self-righteousness. In this article, I address how victory-related manifestations of enjoyment – or jouissance – are articulated in the discourses of mainstream right-wing subjects. I ask what enjoyment-based rhetoric reveal about the normalisation of the far right and the identity reformation of right-wing subjects and discourses. To address this, I first discuss the role of enjoyment on far-right normalisation by merging Derk Hook’s analytics of enjoyment (2017) with ontological security, expanding on the latter concept as a libidinal fantasy of ideological closure. Subsequently, analysing the case of the 2022 Swedish election, I explore three interrelated dimensions of co-(re)formation of right-wing enjoyment, discourses, and identities: the symbolic space where civilisational-securitising fantasies are produced; the threatening modes of enjoyment of cultural Others; and the imperilled enjoyment modes of the ‘real Swedes’. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/adfd62d0-40ec-435c-8311-4de55b4eb338
- author
- Kisić-Merino, Pasko
LU
- publishing date
- 2025-01-23
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- far-right, far-right normalisation, jouissance, Lacan, ontological security
- in
- Review of International Studies
- volume
- 51
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 449 - 471
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105002469711
- ISSN
- 0260-2105
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0260210524000895
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- adfd62d0-40ec-435c-8311-4de55b4eb338
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-08 13:37:53
- date last changed
- 2026-01-09 10:22:20
@article{adfd62d0-40ec-435c-8311-4de55b4eb338,
abstract = {{The retreat of the modern liberal order in contemporary democracies can be understood as co-constituted with the normalisation of the far right. The far right has increasingly accessed the political ‘mainstream’ through the enabling of erstwhile-disavowing centre-right and right-wing counterparts. In contexts of political ‘victory’, the identity (re)formation of these mainstream right-wing subjects and discourses can be observed and analysed through celebrations alongside the far right and in emotions and attitudes like elation, gloating, and self-righteousness. In this article, I address how victory-related manifestations of enjoyment – or jouissance – are articulated in the discourses of mainstream right-wing subjects. I ask what enjoyment-based rhetoric reveal about the normalisation of the far right and the identity reformation of right-wing subjects and discourses. To address this, I first discuss the role of enjoyment on far-right normalisation by merging Derk Hook’s analytics of enjoyment (2017) with ontological security, expanding on the latter concept as a libidinal fantasy of ideological closure. Subsequently, analysing the case of the 2022 Swedish election, I explore three interrelated dimensions of co-(re)formation of right-wing enjoyment, discourses, and identities: the symbolic space where civilisational-securitising fantasies are produced; the threatening modes of enjoyment of cultural Others; and the imperilled enjoyment modes of the ‘real Swedes’.}},
author = {{Kisić-Merino, Pasko}},
issn = {{0260-2105}},
keywords = {{far-right; far-right normalisation; jouissance; Lacan; ontological security}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{449--471}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Review of International Studies}},
title = {{The role of right-wing enjoyment in the normalisation of the far right}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0260210524000895}},
doi = {{10.1017/S0260210524000895}},
volume = {{51}},
year = {{2025}},
}