Enemies among us: The anti-elitist and xenophobic discourses in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Enemies among us: The anti-elitist and xenophobic discourses in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: The extreme right parties offer a clear identification between “us” and “them”, translating the dichotomy into friend-enemy distinction. These parties share a core of anti-elitist and xenophobic attitudes, that are in the case of the extreme right in Central and Eastern Europe usually directed at the ruling establishment and the Roma minority. The aim of this exploratory paper is to analyse the frames employed by extreme right parties that serve to construct meanings about their main perceived enemies, the political elites and the Roma,in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The paper builds upon the assumption that meanings are not naturally attached to objects and events, but are constructed through interpretive processes producing specific frames. Applying the frame analysis, the paper examines the discourses of the People’s Party Our Slovakia and the Worker’s Party of Social Justice in regard to their enemies in the period of 2010-2013. The results indicate that the strategy employed by the parties is similar to new master frame combining xenophobia and anti-political-establishment populism. The paper makes an empirical contribution to the research on the extreme right and the ideological processes of extreme right parties in Central and Eastern Europe.

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