Our People First!' Understanding the Resonance of the Vlaams Blok's Xenophobic Programme

This article begins with a critical appraisal of some of the more general accounts of the recent rise of the xenophobic right, subsequently arguing that these explanations are necessarily incomplete and perhaps misleading int heir attempts at universality. It is argued that a more useful method of analysis must problematise the very contention of social difference on which these movements are based, and focus on nationalism as a mode of claim making embedded in a complex and historicallycontingent process of socio-political change. Using Flemish nationalism, and more particularly the xenophobic Vlaams Blok party, as a case study, the author shows the value of an historically-sensitive account which re-incorporates nationalism into its political context.