The Gypsy "menace": Populism and the New Anti-Gypsy Politics

As a new, populist politics sweeps Europe, Roma and Gypsies are experiencing increasing prejudice and hostility within their resident societies. This movement extracts political meaning from collective identity and values forms of solidarity rooted in towns, class, communities, and nations, and it has found in Roma and Gypsies a suitable target for citizens' fears and frustrations. This particular strain of politics draws on a rising tide of xenophobia, a perceived loss of sovereignity and democratic oversight, disillusionment with political elites, frustration with the failure of social welfare programs, the representation of social and political conflicts as cultural issues, and a growing rejection of a transnational European order. Ranging from Belfast to Sofia via Paris, Rome, Prague, and Budapest, this volume shows how, in their reaction to the ten million or so Romany in their communities, some Europeans are beginning to refashion their thinking about the ties that bind Europe's citizens and the ways to sever them.Contributors include political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists from across the continent, and they contextualize the rapidly evolving political debate regarding Roma within three decades of major social and economic change. They explain the reasons behind the recent, frightening resurgence of populist politics in Europe and the increase in interethnic violence and hate crimes. The collection altogether offers a new understanding of Europe's largest minority, vividly portraying liberal politics' contemporary challenges while also recommending how to diffuse such tensions.