Historical Resistance Movements and Modern Euroscepticism

This study explores the relationship between historical resistance and their relationship to modern-day Euroscepticism. It can be seen that within the European Union, the political orientation of Eurosceptic parties differs, with some political orientations being more popular in some parts of the continent compared to others—Eastern European states tend to have right-wing parties, while many Southern European states having left-wing parties. The author suggests that this is a result of the orientation of the resistance movements to the state’s historic authoritarian regime. Case studies were conducted on Spain and Poland—two EU with similar sized area, population, and economies—looking at their respective resistance movements to authorization and their connection to their respective dominate Eurosceptic parties, PiS and Podemos. The author observed clear links and similarities between the tactics, ethos, and rhetoric between these parties and their respective national resistance movements to authoritarianism.