Rally around the flag: the far-right response to Covid-19

The research paper examines the responses of far-right parties—specifically the Lega (Italy), AfD (Germany), and Swedish Democrats (Sweden)—to the Covid-19 pandemic. It argues that while these parties initially struggled to find a resonant message due to a 'rally around the flag' effect favoring incumbent governments, they continue to use the crisis to reinforce populist divisions between 'the people' and 'elites' or 'others'. The author suggests that the future of far-right populism will depend on the social and economic consequences of government measures and the perceived legitimacy of expert-led decision-making.

• Far-right parties in Italy, Germany, and Sweden initially struggled to establish an appealing message during the pandemic, partly due to a "rally around the flag" effect where government approval ratings increased during the crisis.
• The Italian Lega, led by Matteo Salvini, attempted to link the virus to immigration from China, but this discourse was undermined by the decline in NGO rescue boat arrivals and the recognized importance of illegal immigrants to Italy's agricultural sector.
• In Germany, the AfD's populist narrative was weakened because Chancellor Angela Merkel was widely seen as managing the crisis effectively, which contradicted the party's claim that elected elites do not serve the people.
• The pandemic exacerbated internal divisions within the AfD, exposing a cleavage between the national-conservative mainstream and a marginalized far-right wing associated with conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination activism.
• The Swedish Democrats (SD) faced a unique challenge because the Swedish government's strategy of exceptionalism—keeping schools and borders open—forced the SD to paradoxically advocate for the 'international consensus' to oppose the government.
• The author argues that delegating policymaking to medical experts (epistemic authority) may trigger a populist backlash if such governance is perceived as anti-democratic or if experts provide contradictory advice.
• The potential for a renewed surge in far-right populism depends on how economic turbulence is handled and whether EU-level coordination is seen as biased or illegitimate.

APA

Machin, A. R. A. (2020). Rally around the flag: the far-right response to Covid-19. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rally-around-the-flag-the-far-right-response-to-covid-19/

Chicago

Machin, Alexander Ruser, Amanda. Rally around the flag: the far-right response to Covid-19. Green European Journal, 2020. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rally-around-the-flag-the-far-right-response-to-covid-19/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Machin |first1=Alexander Ruser, Amanda |title=Rally around the flag: the far-right response to Covid-19 |publisher=Green European Journal |date=11 September 2020 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rally-around-the-flag-the-far-right-response-to-covid-19/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{machin2020rally, author = {Machin, Alexander Ruser, Amanda}, title = {{Rally around the flag: the far-right response to Covid-19}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rally-around-the-flag-the-far-right-response-to-covid-19/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }