The Czech Parliamentary Radical Right and the West

Harnessing Postsocialism to Anti-Liberalism

Abstract

The present article explores the dynamics behind Czech radical-right leader Tomio Okamura and his Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party’s frequent criticism of the West. It argues that their attacks on the West should be seen as not only a critique of liberal democracy but also a denunciation of the post-socialist socio-economic and political order in Central and Eastern Europe. The transition from socialism to liberal democracy in this region has closely tied the concept of liberal democracy to ‘the Western model’, turning discussions about the West into debates about the post-1989 transition. Using a qualitative analysis of social media communication and drawing on the insights of critical discourse analysis, the article shows how Okamura and his party use their denunciation of the West to fight against both the Western liberal democratic model and the Czech post-socialist regime. By doing so, they tap into post-socialist tropes and challenge the West–East hierarchy of knowledge. The Czech case sheds light on the regional specificity of radical right movements in Central and Eastern Europe and how their anti-Western, anti-liberal stance is influenced by issues related to the post-1989 transition.