Brothers in arms? : exploring transnational alliance between European populist radical right and Indian populist radical right

Abstract

In the past decade, a transnational alliance between two European populist radical right parties -- Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) and France’s Rassemblement National (RN), which is also referred to as National Rally – and India’s ruling populist radical right, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has evolved. Using the concepts of populist radical right and postcolonial populism alongside transnational networking of the populist radical right and Islamophobia, this thesis analyses empirical evidence that establishes that populist radical right from the Global North and the Global South gain mutual validation and acceptability of their narratives related to Islamophobia, sovereignty and anti-European Union standpoint through the alliance. This research underlines that while the Indian government-led by the BJP is officially making concerted efforts to improve the strategic partnership between India and European Union by branding India’s ‘growth’ story under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it discredits European Union’s criticism on the ongoing human rights violations in India. At the same time, the BJP is using the voice of its European populist radical right allies to establish that India needs no ‘lecturing’ on human rights from the liberal institutions in the West. This research addresses the gap in literature on the evolving relationship between populist radical right parties from Global North and Global South and opens opportunities for deeper research on the impact of such a transnational alliance on European Union-India policymaking, and on the larger democratic and liberal world order. Keywords: AfD, National Rally, BJP, populist radical right, Islamophobia, sovereignty, EU.