The European Union as a Totalitarian Nightmare: Dystopian Visions in the Discourse of the UK Independence Party (UKIP)

Catherine MacMillan

doi:10.1515/rjes-2016-0020

.blurhash-client-img { display: none !important; }

The European Union as a Totalitarian Nightmare: Dystopian Visions in the Discourse of the UK Independence Party (UKIP)

Romanian Journal of English Studies

Volume 13 (2016): Issue 1 (December 2016)

By: Catherine MacMillan

Open Access

|Dec 2016

Abstract

Based on an analysis of UKIP’s discourse on the EU, particularly that of leader Nigel Farage, this paper argues that the party depicts the EU in dystopian terms; in particular it compares it to dystopian narratives such as Orwell’s 1984, totalitarian communist regimes, Nazi Germany and ‘failed states’ such as North Korea.

References

BBC. 2014. “Farage: UKIP Has ‘Momentum’ and is Targeting More Victories”. 26 May Available: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27567744 [Accessed 2014, July 20].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cameron, David. 2009. A Europe Policy that People can Believe In, 4 November. Available:http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2009/11/David_Cameron_A_Europe_policy_that_people_can_believe_in.asxp [Accessed 2012, October 30].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Claisse, Frédéric and Pierre Delvenne. 2015. “Building on anticipation: Dystopia as Empowerment” in Current Sociology 63(2): 155-16910.1177/0011392114556579
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Farage, Nigel. 2010. “UKIP Nigel Farage MEP – European Union and its Communist Roots”. YouTube, ,9 February. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?u=sSDQeskMkxq [Accessed 2013, November 4].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Farage, Nigel. 2011a. “Farage: EU Economic Governance is Anti-Democratic Dictatorship”, YouTube, 14 September. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koZiV33K9xY [Accessed 2013, November 4].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Farage, Nigel. 2011b. “What Gives You the Right to Dictate to the Greek and Italian People?”, YouTube, 16 November. Available: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdob6QRLRJU [Accessed 2013, March 12].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Farage, Nigel. 2012. “Video: UK MEP Nigel Farage – The EU Titanic has hit the iceberg”, 13 May. Available: https://quitenormal.wordpress.com/tag/eu/ [Accessed 2013, June 12].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Farage, Nigel. 2013. “Nigel Farage”s Speech at the UKIP Conference – Full Text and Audio”, The Spectator, 20 September. Available: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/09/nigel-farages-speech-full-text-and-audio [Accessed 2014, May 10].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Farage, Nigel. 2014. “Democracy ‘simply cannot exist within the EU’ says Nigel Farage”, Sunday Express, 20 March. Available: http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/488294/Farage-on-Friday-Nigel-Farage-on-democracy-in-the-EU [Accessed 2015, April 2].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ford, Rob. 2013. UKIP’s Rise is Not Just a Problem for the Conservatives – They are Emerging as the Party of Choice for Disaffected and Angry Voters from All Parties. Available: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/archives/29487 [Accessed 2014, March 3].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fox, Benjamin. (2014). “New UK Reports Back EU Powers, Enrage Eurosceptics”. EU Observer, 13 February. Available: http://euobserver.com/news/123132 [Accessed 2014, February 14].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Frye, Northrop. 1990. Anatomy of Criticism. London: Penguin
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Gifford, Christopher. 2010. “The UK and the European Union: Dimensions of Sovereignty and the Problem of Eurosceptic Britishness” in Parliamentary Affairs, 63 (2), pp. 321-33810.1093/pa/gsp031
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Gifford, Christopher. 2014. “The People Against Europe: The Eurosceptic Challenge to the United Kingdom’s Coalition Government” in Journal of Common Market Studies, 52 (3): 512-52810.1111/jcms.12112
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Gordin, Michael D. 2010. “Introduction: Utopia and Dystopia beyond Space and Time” in Utopia/Dystopia: Conditions of Historical Possibility. Michael D. Gordin, Helen Tilley and Gyan Prakash (Eds.). Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 1-2010.1515/9781400834952.1
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hawkins, Benjamin. 2014. “Fantasies of Subjugation: A Discourse Theoretical Account of British Policy on the European Union” in Critical Policy Studies. Available: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19460171.2014.951666 [Accessed 2014, November 14].10.1080/19460171.2014.951666
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Miliband, Ed. 2014. “Speech on Europe” in The Spectator, 12 March Available: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/03//ed-millibands-speech-on-europe-full-text [Accessed 2014, March 24].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Nicolaidis, Kalypso. and Howse, Robert. 2002. “ ‘This is my EUtopia …’ Narrative as Power” in Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(4).767-79210.1111/1468-5965.00397
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Pârau, Cristina E. 2014. “The 2014 European Elections in Britain: The Counter-Revolt of the Masses?” in Studia Politica 14(3): 333-36410.2139/ssrn.2519062
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Purkar, N.amrata 2013. “Dystopian Writing as a Part of Science Fiction” in The Criterion 4(5): 1-4
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Schmidt, Vivien. 2006. “Adapting to Europe: Is It Harder for Britain?” in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 8(1): 15-33.10.1111/j.1467-856x.2006.00228.x
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Schmidt, Vivien. 2012. “European Member State Elites’ Diverging Visions of the European Union: Diverging Differently since the Economic Crisis and the Libyan Intervention?” in Journal of European Integration, 34(2):169-190.10.1080/07036337.2012.641090
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Szczerbiak, Alex. and Paul A. Taggart. 2008. Opposing Europe?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780199258307.001.0001
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Stavrakakis, Yannis. 2005. “Passions of Identification: Discourse Enjoyment and European Identity” in Discourse Theory in European Politics. David R. Howarth and Jacob Torfing (Eds.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 68-9210.1057/9780230523364_3
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Taggart, Paul and Alex Szczerbiak. 2013. “Coming in from the Cold? Euroscepticism, Government Participation and Party Positions on Europe’ in Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(1): 17-37.10.1111/j.1468-5965.2012.02298.x
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
UKIP. 1993. About UKIP. Available: http://www.ukip.org/about [Accessed 2015, February 5].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
UKIP. 2010. 2010 General Election Manifesto. Available: http://www.general-election-2010.co.uk/2010-general-election-manifestos/UKIP-Party-Manifesto-2010.pdf [Accessed 2013, October 4].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
UKIP. 2014. “Farage Denounces New European Commission as The Enemy of the Very Concept of Democracy”. Available: http://www.ukip.org/farage_denounces_new_european_commission_as_the_enemy_of_the_very_concept_of_democracy [Accessed 2015, February 16].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
UKIP MEPs. 2014. Merkel and Other Federalists want EU School Lessons to Counter Euroscepticism, 8 March. Available: http://www.ukipmeps.org/pdf_news_861.pdf [Accessed 2015, February18].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Waterfield, Bruno. 2013. “Leveson: EU Wants Power to Sack Journalists”, The Telegraph, January 22. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9817625/Leveson-EU-wants-power-to-sack-journalists.html [Accessed 2014, 14 October].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Waterfield, Bruno and Matthew Day. 2014. “EU Has Secret Plan For Police to ‘Remote Stop’ Cars”, The Telegraph, 29 Jan. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10605328/EU-has-secret-plan-for-police-to-remote-stop-cars.html [Accessed 2015, March 15].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Watts, Duncan. and Colin Pilkington. 2005. Britain in the European Union Today. Manchester: Manchester University Press,
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zielonka, Jan. 2013. ‘Europe’s New Civilizing Missions: The EU’s Normative Power Discourse” in Journal of Political Ideologies 18(1): 35-5510.1080/13569317.2013.750172
Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rjes-2016-0020 | Journal eISSN: 2286-0428 | Journal ISSN: 1584-3734

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 158 - 165

Published on: Dec 30, 2016

Published by: West University of Timisoara

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

Keywords:

UKIP,

EU,

discourse,

dystopia,

utopia

Related subjects:

Linguistics and semiotics,

Theoretical frameworks and disciplines,

Linguistics, other,

Germanic languages,

English

© 2016 Catherine MacMillan, published by West University of Timisoara
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Volume 13 (2016): Issue 1 (December 2016)