A Weekend in Padania: Regionalist Populism and the Lega Nord

Abstract

This article argues that the Lega Nord is best understood, first and foremost, as a regionalist populist party. Following a brief discussion of the importance of the territorial reference in explaining the Lega, the article examines its populist discourse using material from the party's newspaper La Padania over the three days in June 2005 around the annual Lega rally in Pontida.