The Return of Paranoid Nationalism

28.03
“We are going to ensure that the Netherlands belong to the Dutch again,” promised a triumphant Geert Wilders after the unexpected PVV victory in the 2023 elections. It is tempting to dismiss such statements as an expression of gut feeling, of unthinking xenophobia. But the ideas expressed by Wilders are based on a coherent world view, an ideology. In this lecture, Annelien de Dijn will argue that this ideology can best be described as paranoid nationalism.