Left-Wing Populism and Nationalism: A Comparative Analysis of the Patriotic Narratives of Podemos and France insoumise

International audience; The Great Recession (2007-2009) has created a breeding ground allowing the emergence of new left-wing movements in Europe, among which are Podemos and La France insoumise (LFI). These two movements adopted a populist strategy, inspired by the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe (Gómez-Reino & Llamazares, 2019; Kioupkiolis, 2016). They developed a national-popular narrative, closely associating the category of the “people” to the concept of “homeland”. The aim of this paper is to analyze to what extent the adoption of this narrative represents an ideological and strategic turning point regarding the French and Spanish far-left tradition. This work is the result of several months of qualitative surveys : Participant observation during the electoral campaigns (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019) and interviews (with members and leaders of these movements) were made. Firstly, we analyze the common features of their narratives mainly inspired by the Latin American national- popular experiences of the 2000s. Both movements oppose the “people” to the “oligarchy” and propose a civilian-politic, democratic and progressive definition of the homeland, linked to the defense of public services, social rights, and to the protection of the most destitute citizens facing the neoliberal offensive. Secondly, we situate these discourses in their respective national contexts to determine (1) To what extent the adoption of this narrative represents a break with traditional far-left strategies; (2) How these narratives are shaped according to each national construction. On the one hand, in Spain, the adoption of a national- popular narrative is a key element to understand the break operated by Podemos with the Spanish traditional radical Left characterized by its reject of the adoption of a “patriotic” speech associated to Francoism (Barón & Cuello, 2016; Redondo, 2016). It also represented an answer to the Spanish territorial crisis and as a way to “re-think” the territorial model of Spain by leaning on a “Plurinational hypothesis” (Iglesias, 2016). On the other hand, in France, the strategic use of the “national-popular” narrative by LFI during the 2017 French presidential election falls in line and enhances the Jacobin Republican tradition painting France as “the one and indivisible nation”. This Republican tradition is anchored in the discourse of a part of the French radical left since the 20th century – especially by the French Communist Party – and has been assumed for a long time by the its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.