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This article examines how xenophobia and Islamophobia have become mainstream in Danish politics over the past thirty years.

June 3, 2026Open Access

The Visual Politics of ‘Danishness’ and the Mainstreaming of Xenophobia in Danish Party Politics

Key Points

This article examines how xenophobia and Islamophobia have become mainstream in Danish politics over the past thirty years.
Analyzes the role of the Danish People's Party in promoting far-right ideology
Explores theoretical frameworks including anticolonial thought and the Frankfurt School
Critiques common perceptions of right-wing populism in Denmark
Demonstrates the mainstreaming of xenophobia through the Danish People's Party
Highlights connections between colonial violence and current racialized state control
Proposes a redefined understanding of (post-)fascism in contemporary politics

Abstract

Bolt Rasmussen’s article examines the mainstreaming of xenophobia and Islamophobia in Danish party politics over the past three decades, focusing on the Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti) as the primary vehicle through which far-right nativist ideology entered the political mainstream. Rejecting the dominant framing of the party as a case of right-wing populism, the author argues for an expanded concept of (post-)fascism—drawing on anticolonial thought, the Frankfurt School, and thinkers such as Aimé Césaire, George Jackson, and Wilhelm Reich—to account for the continuum between colonial violence and contemporary racialised state control.

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