Educational policy agenda, ideological transformation and radical right populism: the case of the education-identity nexus of the Northern League in Italy, 1994-2018

The study of the relationship between parties and education policies has so far largely disregarded populist parties. Despite the success of this party family, little attention has been paid to their proposals in terms of education and interpretation of the role of schools and higher education in society. The central research question of the paper concerns the development of the educational agenda of the Northern League party in Italy, from 1994 to 2018. If the general framework suggests that political parties are losing power and influence in education matters, Italy can be considered an interesting deviant case. Education policy is politically divisive, with multiple stakeholders, different ideological preferences and vested interests. It should therefore come as no surprise that a party, as deeply rooted in the Italian party and political system as the Northern League, has invested in positioning itself in education policies both in terms of identity and argumentative strategies associated with the use of political symbols. Against this background, the purpose of the paper is to study how the Northern League’s education agenda is shaped by symbolic frames and rhetorical narratives that illustrate and reflect the ideological tenets and evolution of the party over the last decades.