Femonationalism Is No Populism

Chapter 2 begins with a discussion of how, in the last decade, sociologists and political scientists have understood right-wing parties’ exploitation of gender equality as a form of populism. Challenging this approach, this chapter argues that the concept of populism fails to make sense of the centrality these parties assign to gender equality. Instead, the chapter contends that if we want to grasp the reasons for the sudden and instrumental mobilization of feminist issues by these right-wing parties, we need to draw on the theories of nationalism developed in the context of postcolonial feminism and critical race studies. To do this, the chapter explores the emergence of femonationalism within the historical context of decolonization of non-western countries and re-colonization of non-western subjects in Europe and the West. It thus links these discussions to notions of “racialization of sexism” and “sexualization of racism.”