POPÜLİST SİYASETTE HEGEMONİK ERKEKLİK VE HEGEMONİK KADINLIK: MARINE LE PEN VE POPÜLİST RADİKAL SAĞIN CİNSİYETİ

Populism studies increasingly focus on the role of leaders' political styles and performances in the surge of the populist radical right. Populist radical right leaders claim to protect “pure people” (a category that they define, in contradistinction to elites) against “threats” stemming from migration and globalization. Their political style is designed to show that they are cut out for such a “protective” role; therefore, it is based on gendered performances and discourses. Performances of hegemonic masculinity play a central role in determining this style. Yet, it is not only men who embrace such performances. Focusing on the political styles and performances of female leaders provides a fertile ground to discuss the centrality of gender to the populist radical right. Keeping in mind the dynamism of the concepts of hegemonic masculinity and femininity, this study investigates Marine Le Pen’s (the leader of France’s Rassemblement National) political style and performance through a gender perspective.