Borders, exclusion, and the populist radical right ‘meta-us’

Most analyses of populism emphasise the divide that populist parties establish between ‘the people’ and a corrupt ‘other’. Drawing on a new study, José Javier Olivas Osuna argues that this construction of boundaries and borders between people is far less binary than is commonly recognised. His research suggests that populist parties frequently blur boundaries depending on the context, allowing them to create a ‘meta-us’ that acts as a common front against perceived threats.