Mainstreaming the Radical Right at the Urban Scale: An Investigation of the Discourses and Policies in the European Capitals of Culture

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thilo Lang
• Subject Area: Human Geography
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 565006774

The objective of the R²CULT project is to research the mainstreaming of the radical right (RR) in Europe in the field of urban cultural policies. It is based on a comparative analysis of discourses and policies in cities implementing the European Capital of Culture initiative (ECoC) which are characterized by the presence of strong support for a RR party among the citizenry. The mainstreaming of RR discourse and agenda so far has been mainly associated with EU external policies: immigration control, foreign aid, and the enlargement process. To date, there is only limited analysis of the mainstreaming of the RR as a multi-faceted process organized around EU internal policies such as cultural and urban policies directed at areas suffering from uneven development and often referred to as “left behind” where the RR grounds its electoral legitimacy. Hence, R²CULT takes its starting point at the intersection of research on the Radical Right and the mainstreaming of their discourse and research on culture-led urban policies through the European Capital of Culture initiative contributing to territorial cohesion. The project is structured around four research questions: Q.1 How can the investigation of the “new normal” RR in the European Capitals of Culture help to deepen the conceptualization of the mainstreaming of this political family in the public sphere? Q.2 How does the politicization of the ECoC initiative by the RR reveal its mainstreaming strategy in the city? Q.3 How mainstreamed is the RR discourse and agenda in the definition of the ECoC initiative for the city? Q.4 How do the RR discourse and agenda on the ECoC initiative for the city align with those of the civil society? The R²CULT project combines urban and critical discourse studies. It is based on a multi-modal Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) of critical discourse analysis. It uses a comparative approach focusing on six ECoC located in urban areas suffering from uneven development and characterized by increasing support for the radical right: Esch 2022 (Luxembourg/France), Veszprém 2023 (Hungary), Bad Ischl 2024 (Austria), Nova Gorica/Gorizia 2025 (Slovenia/Italy), Chemnitz 2025 (Germany), and Trenčín 2026 (Slovakia). For each of these, sets of data will be collected, codified, and analyzed concerning the definition and implementation of this European initiative. The R²CULT project will help to deepen the conceptualization of the RR mainstreaming by considering the city as a downscaled public sphere in which the RR can increase its centrality through the definition of cultural policies. It is hypothesized that the mainstreaming of the radical right discourse and agenda in cities implementing the ECoC program is expressed through 1) the willingness of the radical right to soften and codify its communication, 2) the propensity of the governance network managing the ECoC to mobilize the radical right claims, and 3) the partial identification between the radical right and civil society.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Czech Republic, Luxembourg
• Partner Organisation: Czech Science Foundation; Fonds National de la Recherche
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Christian Lamour; Professor Dr. Ondrej Slach