Gómez Del Tronco, Carlos; (2025) The normalisation of Islamophobia in Czechia through mainstream political discourse and its effects on post-2015 Czech public opinion regarding ‘Muslims’. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

In 2015, around the time of the so-called refugee crisis, there was a relatively unexpected and extreme shift in Czech public discourse and opinion against ‘Muslims’. Although anti-Muslim prejudice in the country is often attributed to the influence of negative representations in public discourse, systematic analyses of this effect are lacking. This interdisciplinary dissertation addresses this gap by focusing, particularly, on the role of mainstream political discourse by proposing three main arguments. First, that mainstream politicians normalised Islamophobic rhetoric between 2014 and 2015, thus providing content and legitimacy to Islamophobic prejudice. Second, that they opted to articulate an Islamophobic programme because of their own motivations and interests, rather than being pushed to radicalise by far-right challengers or an illiberal public. Third, that the change in public opinion and influence of politicians becomes more evident through a social constructionist understanding of Islamophobic prejudice. The first two empirical chapters present the results of a critical realist thematic analysis of 31 semi-structured interviews with non-Muslim ethnic Czechs and Muslims living in Czechia conducted in 2020/2021. Additionally, two chapters set forth the outcome of a critical discourse analysis of strategies for representing social actors and argumentation employed by mainstream political figures in televised debates between 2014 and 2015. The analysis reveals that mainstream politicians had a pivotal role in shaping the contents of Islamophobic prejudice, as well as opening the window to more uncivil forms of discourse and delegitimising actors warning against fearmongering and Islamophobic discrimination. Furthermore, their normalisation of Islamophobic rhetoric intensified already in 2014, before the ‘refugee crisis’ crystallised as a topic and far-right actors began to capitalise on Islamophobic politics. Finally, the analysis discusses the motivations from politicians and why they were effective at shaping public opinion regarding ‘Muslims’.

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