The nativist singularity in Vox

Ethnic Hispanicism and Iberosphere

Abstract

Vox is an increasingly studied party, both in Spain and internationally. Its sustained electoral rise in recent years and the break with the Spanish exceptionality with respect to the extreme right - which has significantly also occurred in Portugal - justifies this interest. A variety of papers have analysed Vox's ideological character and how it fits Cas Mudde's definition of the Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRP). Most studies stress that the Spanish party's political offer is similar to that of other European post-fascist parties. However, Vox's nativism has some remarkable peculiarities. This study aims to explore the singularities of Vox's nationalism on the basis of two interrelated concepts: ethnic Hispanism and the Ibero-sphere. To this end, a methodological strategy based on three pillars is developed: on the one hand, a review of the specialised literature on the subject, on the other hand, a discursive analysis of a large corpus of Santiago Abascal's speeches at various party rallies, and finally an analysis of three in-depth interviews conducted with members of Vox's main think tank: the Disenso Foundation. In this sense, the aim is to better understand and frame the peculiarities of the Spanish party's political offer, as well as to open the research to the reception that these concepts have in other nations of the so-called Ibero-sphere.

Keywords: Vox, Iberosphere, ethnic Hispanism, radical right.