Restoration of Sovereignty? Interpretative Lectures of Sovereignism beyond Nationalism and Populism

Sovereignism has been lately widely used in the public debate, particularly in the context of the European Union, often misused as a plain synonym of nationalism or populism and paying little attention to the different levels of analysis. In this article we attempt to explore the concept by proposing interpretative lectures based on several theoretical approaches, including discourse theory and cleavage theory. In particular, we seek to better understand the concept of “sovereignism” through a comparison of articulations and linkages with the concepts of populism and nationalism. We also show the different nuances that the concept of sovereignism has acquired in some specific contexts, for example in Italy, where it has become a buzzword for far-right parties and movements, such as Matteo Salvini’s Lega and CasaPound. In conclusion, we acknowledge the important elements of continuity with populism and nationalism, but also stress the elements that would characterise sovereignism as an ideology in its own right, such as the narratives based on the return to a past where sovereignty would be the exclusive preserve of the people and the nation.