Leiden University Student Repository

Pattinama, Kenneth Sean (2018)

Can an Illiberal be Liberal? A Discourse Analysis of Wilders’ Islamophobic Politics

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

PVV leader Geert Wilders is seen as one of the most remarkable and provocative Dutch politicians of the past 20 years. This is partly a consequence of the Islamophobic discourse that he uses in order to argue that Islam, Muslims, and immigration pose a threat to the liberal Dutch and Western society. People have often argued that this Islamophobic discourse is discriminative and racist and is for that reason in conflict with the ideology of liberalism. However, Wilders and his supporters argue that the contrary is true and that he is actually protecting the Western liberal society from the dangerous illiberal Islam. Moreover, it has often been argued that liberalism is in fact a paradoxical ideology that historically has distinguished people on the basis of race, class, and gender. For that reason, Wilders seems to position himself well within the ideology of liberalism. By the means of a discourse analysis, this study attempts to demonstrate that Wilders’ Islamophobic discourse is...Show morePVV leader Geert Wilders is seen as one of the most remarkable and provocative Dutch politicians of the past 20 years. This is partly a consequence of the Islamophobic discourse that he uses in order to argue that Islam, Muslims, and immigration pose a threat to the liberal Dutch and Western society. People have often argued that this Islamophobic discourse is discriminative and racist and is for that reason in conflict with the ideology of liberalism. However, Wilders and his supporters argue that the contrary is true and that he is actually protecting the Western liberal society from the dangerous illiberal Islam. Moreover, it has often been argued that liberalism is in fact a paradoxical ideology that historically has distinguished people on the basis of race, class, and gender. For that reason, Wilders seems to position himself well within the ideology of liberalism. By the means of a discourse analysis, this study attempts to demonstrate that Wilders’ Islamophobic discourse is in fact very much in line with the liberal ideology despite its racist and discriminative content.Show less

Islamophobia

Liberalism

Securitisation

Inclusion and Exclusion

Author

Pattinama, Kenneth Sean

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

International Relations (International Studies)

Supervisors

Thakur, Vineet

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en