The victimized Self and threatening Other: A cross-country analysis of (in)security representations in the visual discourse of populist radical right parties

This article explores two discursive formations that characterize populist radical right communication: the victimized Self and threatening Other. In recent years, this boundary-making practice has been more frequently conveyed within a securitizing logic in which an entity is wronged and therefore needs to be defended against another entity vilified and pictured as dangerous. Taking a comparative perspective and using Instagram posts as primary data, this paper builds on discourse historical approach (DHA) combined with multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) to examine how visual and multimodal articulations of victimized Self and threatening Other communicate a sense of (in)security in the discourse of three populist radical right parties: National Rally in France, the Spanish Vox and the Sweden Democrats. The study traces the dynamics of a discursive transnationality by showing with concrete examples how the three parties tap into similar topics and use comparable rhetorical devices. It also maps the intricacies of their processes of othering and points out differences related to the national contexts.