Indledning
The financial crisis and implosion of Wall Street in 2008 caused a global economic crash and led to the, perhaps, greatest recession since the stock market crash in 1929.
In 2009 Greece revealed that it had been underrating its deficit for years and in 2010 the financial markets began to refuse Greece any loans, which could potentially lead towards bankruptcy of the state and spur a new financial crisis.
The bailouts for Greece were issued by the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank which came with a lot of conditions.
They required budget cuts and tax increase. It was announced that these bailouts would mean higher taxes for the low and middle-income households and these harsh bailout-measures eventually led to protests, demonstrations and strikes led by the public workers.
Indholdsfortegnelse
1. Introduction and context 3
2. The chosen fragment 3
3. Theoretical literature 5
4. A short introduction to Nigel Farage 6
5. Analysis 7
5.1 - Nigel Farage as a mythical figure 7
5.2 - Nigel Farage’s characteristics of a ‘trickster’ 9
5.3 - Nigel Farage and his populist political style 10
6. Nigel Farage and Donald Trump 12
7. Conclusion 13
9. Fragment 15
10. Literature 15
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Uddrag
The primary focus of this paper will be on, the Hero Mythology regarding Farage, his resemblance to the ‘trickster’ and his political style.
Nigel Farage is fighting the corrupt elite and wishes to return to UK triumphantly. Farage is on a so- called “quest for justice” and expresses how this journey or quest will require “self-sacrifice”, stressing that his dedication will not be completely flawless and “wholly rational”.
It is therefore interesting to draw on Catherine McMillan and her work with the hero mythology and of UKIP as ‘Dystopian Heroes’.1
According to Darren Kelsey mythologies are affective products of thoughts, minds, feelings and emotion.2 Joseph Campbell believes that this kind of storytelling is used to understand and define who we in fact really are.3
William J. Hynes believes that there is no unified definition in the theory of the trickster.4 He presents six similarities which can be found in the trickster figure, but stresses that one cannot always expect to meet all of these characteristics in a trickster.
Instead they can be a useful way of determining the degree of such characteristics which the trickster possess.5
This analysis will include similarities such as the anomalous personality of the trickster and the deceiver/trick-player.
In the matter of analyzing an actor’s populist style it is relevant to include Rethinking Populism:
Politics, Mediatisation and Political Style by Benjamin Moffitt and Simon Tormey. In this article their analysis introduces the category of ‘populist style’ as a new way of thinking and exploring the phenomenon.
They focus on the performative aspect of contemporary politics and the populist style of disregarding the political rules and behavioral conduct in politics.
Margaret Canovan calls this ‘tabloid style’.6 They are introducing this particular concept based on modern developments in theories of representation with a primary focus on the performative dimension of populism.
By using this approach Moffitt and Tormey projects that it can allow us to understand the appearance of populism across the political spectrum.
It would be possible to move beyond the classical content analysis, which they believe is lacking its stylistic elements.
They believe that the political style is an important tool in exploring the realm of contemporary politics and that performance cannot just be viewed as a one-dimensional feature of politics.
Furthermore, Moffitt argues that populist style and performative elements are becoming more prominent in politics.7
‘Insult politics’ is also a prominent term in the present political landscape. It is used to describe Donald Trump’s rhetorical manner of speaking and his communication in political matters.
In this it is certainly crucial to include and draw on Oscar Winberg’s paper on insult politics and incendiary language. This will be used to draw parallels between Trump and Farage, and furthermore its historical significance.
So why is this research interesting? Catherine McMillan believes that myths are ever changing and thereby continually legitimizing and sustaining political authority.8
Therefore it is interesting to try and capture how mythology plays a role in the chosen fragment and furthermore if ‘the trickster’ does as well.
These analyses will be presented in chapter 5.1 and 5.2. The ‘Political style’ of Farage will be analyzed in 5.3 as well.
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