Unmoored: resources for the rise of right-wing populism in everyday experiences of international maritime industry workers from Croatia

In this paper, Stojanovic-Cehajic and Zub & ccaron;ic investigate how the everyday experiences of international maritime industry workers from Croatia provide resources for the rise of right-wing populism. Drawing on individual interviews, focus groups and digital ethnography, they analyse three levels of interconnected everyday experiences which provide resources for core anti-institutional commitments of right-wing populism among Croatian seafarers: 1) a nationalist political imaginary centred on the conflict between a 'heartland people' and pluralist institutions, and the distrust of institutions and elites resulting from ongoing state corruption/capture; 2) the labour regime of the international maritime industry marked by socio-cultural deprivation, economic insecurity and systemic micromanagement under suboptimal working conditions; and 3) the digital sociality of the 'internet of platforms' hostile to collective deliberation and action, fuelling the experience of collective powerlessness, which is conducive to the dominance of extreme and exclusionary members. Lastly, the authors provide preliminary notes on urgent areas of research for combating the rise of right-wing populism among international maritime industry workers.