Populism

Três variantes do personalismo na política da América Hispânica: o caudilhismo, o bolivarianismo e o populismo como expressões de afirmação regional / Three variants of personalism in Hispanic America’s politics: caudilism,bolivarianism and populism as expressions of regional affimation

by Francisco Mata Machado Tavares (Franck)

Abstract: This article discusses, from a political-theoretical approach, three variants of the
charismatic... more Abstract: This article discusses, from a political-theoretical approach, three variants of the
charismatic legitimation of power that are identified, along different historical epochs, in Hispanic
America. The goal is to identify the common features and the differences between caudilism,
bolivarianism and populism. The argument I intend to justify is that the political personalism in
this subcontinent is closely related to the affirmation of its regional autonomy, and, thus, to the
denial of the legalist-rationalist legitimation consubstantiated in the European constitutionalism.
There would be, thus, a paradoxical relation between the citizenry autonomy pressupposed in the
constitutional ideal, and the local autonomy, which is intrinsic to the expressions of personalism
in Hispanic America

Opposing Neoliberalism? Poland's renewed populism and post-communist transition

by Stuart Shields

This article interrogates the social impact of neoliberalisation and the counter-hegemonic forces this has engendered... more This article interrogates the social impact of neoliberalisation and the counter-hegemonic forces this has engendered by exploring Poland's recent populist turn. It rejects methodologically nationalist attempts to isolate events in Poland from wider processes of structural change and the accompanying realignment within the global capitalist economy, analysing the implications of a number of alternative and counter-hegemonic projects to the neoliberal mainstream. The article considers whether the populist turn signals a decisive rejection of neoliberalism, despite the absence of a coherent left alternative and the fact that the anti-neoliberal alternative has come from the nationalist right, dominated by politically regressive conservative social forces who have aimed to arrest welfare cuts and end the austerity associated with Poland's seemingly endless forms of reform. While no clear anti-neoliberal strategy exists, pragmatic responses have occurred but within the structurally delimited environs of state intervention. Utilising a Gramscian critical political economy the article shows how populist counter-hegemonic forces have been co-opted and are best understood in terms of the relationship to specific conjunctural projects for the reorientation of the reproduction of capitalist social relations. The conclusion reflects on the potential for a progressive politics of a renewed Polish left to emerge.

SELANİK İTTİHAT VE TERAKKİ ÜÇÜNCÜ KULÜBÜNÜN KÖYLÜ / KÖYCÜ GAZETESİ: VATANDAŞ

by İ. Arda Odabaşı

Rethinking Populism: Populism as a Political Style

by Benjamin Moffitt

Presented at Australian Political Studies Association Conference, Old Parliament House, Canberra, 26-28 September 2011.

Recent events such as the unexpected return of Pauline Hanson, the rise of the Tea Party, and the continued success of... more Recent events such as the unexpected return of Pauline Hanson, the rise of the Tea Party, and the continued success of Hugo Chávez has meant that populism has enjoyed a resurgence in the fields of political theory and comparative politics over the past decade, moving from a topic of near obscurity to become one of political studies’ central – and most contentious – issues. Yet the very idea of populism remains hazy, with dominant conceptualisations of populism – as ideology, logic, discourse or strategy – often attempting to fit a square peg in a round hole, and failing to capture the specificity of the phenomenon.

As such, this paper argues that thinking of populism as a ‘political style’ presents a way out of interminable debates around the term, and offers a conceptualisation that is amenable to both theoretical development and empirical analysis. To do so, it firstly considers the strengths and weaknesses of current theoretical approaches to populism, before developing the concept of ‘political style’ by drawing on the work of Frank Ankersmit, Robert Hariman and Judith Butler. In the process, it explores the central role of performance within political styles, asks what it actually means to speak on behalf of ‘the people’, and explores the aesthetic and relational elements of populism. It will further draw on empirical examples across the globe to demonstrate that such a concept allows us to understand how populism appears across the political spectrum, as well as how it translates into the political mainstream.

Straddling the Divide: Conservatism and Populism in Harper’s Canada and Howard’s Australia

by Benjamin Moffitt

Written with Dave Snow, University of Calgary. Presented at Canadian Political Studies Annual Conference, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, 16-18 May, 2011. Later version to be published in Commonwealth & Comparative Studies.

In 2003, future Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a speech in the Canadian House of Commons regarding... more In 2003, future Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a speech in the Canadian House of Commons regarding the Iraq war that plagiarized from then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard (Weeks and Taber 2008). Harper and Howard, as it turns out, have far more in common than some borrowed words. Despite governing a decade apart in very different economic circumstances, both leaders identified policies to satisfy two factions within their respective centre-right parties – social conservatives and classical liberals. Moreover, in framing these policies to the electorate, both Harper and Howard made frequent appeals to populism, using wedge politics and “dog whistling” to divide the community between “ordinary” Canadians/Australians and an “out-of-touch” elite. When it came to uniting their base to defeat and subsequently stifle their opposition, Harper and Howard pursued remarkably similar strategies with respect to both policy content and political messaging.

Speaking for the People: Contemporary Populism & Representation

by Benjamin Moffitt

Presented at 'Representation and Its Discontents’, Sydney Democracy Initiative Symposium, University of Sydney, February 24-25, 2011.

Ordinary Australians, Working Families and Battlers: The ‘Mainstreaming’ of Populism in Australian Politics

by Benjamin Moffitt

Presented at Double Vision: Biennial Australian Studies Conference, University of Sydney, 25-26 November 2010.

Populism, as an appeal to ‘the people’, is a particularly pertinent feature of the Australian political landscape.... more Populism, as an appeal to ‘the people’, is a particularly pertinent feature of the Australian political landscape. With debates about Australian national identity ineluctably tied to notions of egalitarianism, appeals to ‘ordinary Australians’, ‘working families’ and ‘battlers’ – Abbott, Rudd and Howard respectively – have become recent mainstays of Australian political discourse. Yet these are not innocent categories. These politicians’ favourite synonyms for ‘the people’ draw lines between naturalised ‘regular’ Australians, and their others.

In light of this, this paper will examine the ‘mainstreaming’ of populism in Australian politics. Building on recent developments in the political theory of populism, it will argue that populism, particularly as a mode of representation, is a central yet woefully undertheorised concept for political analysis. It will demonstrate that populism can help us unpack some of the central issues of Australian politics over the past decade – ‘dog-whistling’, the Cronulla riots, Tampa and the super-profits tax – and allow us to reflect on the relationship between democracy, leadership and identity in contemporary Australia in a unique and novel way.

Populism in Comparative Focus: Latin America and the Asia-Pacific

by Benjamin Moffitt

To be presented at the Latin American Studies Congress, San Francisco, 24-26 May 2012. Draft only. Do not cite without permission.

The study of populism has long suffered from a kind of academic ‘ghettoization’, whereby analyses of Latin American... more The study of populism has long suffered from a kind of academic ‘ghettoization’, whereby analyses of Latin American populism and European populism have often remained isolated, each building up their own distinct conceptual approaches. However, recent advancements in the field have sprung from tearing down these walls and bringing Latin American and European populisms in comparative focus with one another. The result has been extremely beneficial, leading to broader understandings as to how populism varies in different contexts, as well as sharpening our broader theoretical understanding of the topic. While this approach is to be applauded, it is only the beginning of what needs to be done if the theory of populism is to be continually refined. Further cross-regional analyses are required.

One region that has remained particularly under-analysed when it comes to populism is the Asia-Pacific. In order to correct this, this paper will seek to compare populism in this region with Latin American populism. It will ask what similarities, if any, link Latin American populists like Hugo Chávez or Evo Morales with populists like Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand or Pauline Hanson in Australia? How have they constructed ‘the people’ in their different contexts? Have they used similar tactics in their attempts to hold onto political power? And what does this reflect about the more general relationship between populism and democracy? In doing so, this paper will seek to overcome the literature’s ‘Atlantic bias’, and continue the important process of broadening the scope of cross-regional analyses of populism.

Review of Benjamin Arditi’s Politics on the Edges of Liberalism

by Benjamin Moffitt

published in Political Studies Review (2011), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 67.

Straddling the Divide: Mainstream Populism & Conservatism

by Benjamin Moffitt

Co-authored with Dave Snow, University of Calgary. To be published in upcoming issue of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics.

This article builds on the insights of Sawer & Laycock (2009) to explore similarities in the use of populist... more This article builds on the insights of Sawer & Laycock (2009) to explore similarities in the use of populist discourse by former Australian Prime John Howard and current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. While Sawer and Laycock label this discourse ‘market populism’ and focus on economic issues, we argue that Howard and Harper’s populism is better understood as ‘mainstream populism’ due to the equal importance of sociocultural issues in their discourses. To demonstrate, we consider the treatment of issues such as immigration, multiculturalism, the culture wars, criminal justice, and childcare. We further suggest that such populist policies were used to satisfy rival wings of their respective parties – neoliberals and social conservatives – that do not always share the same priorities.

Génesis política del discurso religioso: pueblo y populismo en "Iglesia y comunidad nacional" (1981)

by Juan Eduardo Bonnin

Manuscrítica. Revista de Crítica Genética, 17, 72-107, 2010.

En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar las variaciones en el empleo del lexema “pueblo” durante el proceso de... more En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar las variaciones en el empleo del lexema “pueblo” durante el proceso de redacción del documento Iglesia y comunidad nacional (1981). Para ello nos detendremos en la demanda elaborada por el grupo productor al episcopado para que éste asumiera un discurso “populista”, como modo de instaurar discursivamente una identidad social configurada, simultáneamente, por la experiencia del peronismo en la Argentina y la renovación eclesiológica del Concilio Vaticano II. Para ello, argumentamos, los redactores construyeron una representación del pueblo como sujeto político y propusieron una identificación entre el locutor episcopal y el objeto discursivo así construido. Complementariamente, observamos el rechazo sistemático y puntilloso de esta demanda en los “modos” o correcciones realizadas por los obispos en el cuarto borrador. El análisis genético se complementa con un examen de los efectos producidos en ciertos ámbitos de recepción del texto, que nos permitirá observar cómo, a pesar del control episcopal, el efecto de discurso populista llegó a ser percibido por algunos sujetos que rechazaban precisamente esa articulación entre catolicismo posconciliar y peronismo.

Populist Party Choice in Germany and The Netherlands: The Protest Vote Hypothesis Revisited

by Bengü Hosch-Dayican

Paper presented at the 10th Dutch-Belgian Political Science Conference (Politicologenetmaal), Amsterdam, 9-10 June 2011

The outcomes of recent parliamentary elections in Germany (2009) and The Netherlands (2010) have provided clear... more The outcomes of recent parliamentary elections in Germany (2009) and The Netherlands (2010) have provided clear evidence for significant changes in both party systems. The increasing party system fragmentation and voter volatility in these contexts have been associated with the rise of populist challengers which have achieved remarkable success at these elections. This paper aims at analysing the backgrounds of this sudden electoral success by revisiting the protest vote hypothesis, which offers plausible explanations for populist party choice in various Western democracies but at the same time challenged by the issue and ideological voting hypothesis. I suggest that one could systematically merge the two concepts to differentiate between instrumental and expressive types of protest vote, which lead to a better understanding of populist party vote and its consequences for electoral volatility. The findings of the preliminary analysis of this new protest vote model suggests that instrumental protest vote is more general in The Netherlands, where there is a variety of populist alternatives in the party system. On the contrary, expressive protest vote has been found to be the primary protest vote type in Germany where the populist left party is not challenged by any other populist contesters.

Populismo, neopopulismo y movimientos sociales en América Latina: una interpretación teórico-comparativa de las experiencias históricas contemporáneas

by David Diaz-Arias

en: Ronny Viales Hurtado, David Díaz Arias y Javier Franzé (compiladores), América Latina: conceptos y conflictos (San José: Editorial Nuevas Perspectivas, 2011).

Anti-EU Parties and the People: An Analysis of Populism in French Euromanifestos

by Emmanuelle Reungoat

Anti-System Politics. Alternative Normative Attractors in Chaotic Political Systems:The Case of the Front National

by Nicolas Baygert

Master’s thesis

Megastar: Chiranjeevi and Telugu cinema after NT Rama Rao

by Srinivas SV

Chapter 2: After NTR: Telugu Mass Film and Cinematic Populism

Reframing Resentments in the Tea Party Movement

by Chip Berlet

Draft paper with images: http://ccsrwm.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/docs/Berlet%20paper.pdf

2010. “Reframing Resentments in the Tea Party Movement: How Right-Wing Populists use Demonization, Scapegoating, & Conspiracy Theories to Justify Apocalyptic Aggression.” Paper presented at the conference on Fractures, Alliances, and Mobilizations: Emerging Analyses of the 'Tea Party Movement at the Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements, October 22.

Forthcoming, Fall 2012. “Reframing Populist Resentments in the Tea Party Movement.” In Steep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

The signs, slogans, stories, and claims of the Tea Party Movement are often incomprehensible to many observers. A... more The signs, slogans, stories, and claims of the Tea Party Movement are often incomprehensible to many observers. A frequent response is to describe the Tea Party Movement participants as stupid, ignorant, or crazy. What else could explain the “extremist” idea that Obama is both Hitler and Stalin? Who but a “wing-nut” on the “lunatic fringe” would claim that government reform of healthcare could result in a bureaucrat unplugging grandma from her life support system in a hospital?

The underlying frames and narratives which produce these seemingly absurd tropes popular in the Tea Party Movement are actually quite common in conservative, economic libertarian, or Christian evangelical households—and they have been for decades. This chapter argues that the Tea Party Movement is a form of right-wing populism that uses a “producerist” narrative; and that this model historically has been used periodically by right-wing movements in the United States.

An Australian Immunisation to the Extreme Right?

by Aurelien Mondon

Social Identities, 18-1, Feb 2012, iFirst article

Unlike many of its western counterparts, Australia has been spared powerful surges of the extreme right throughout its... more Unlike many of its western counterparts, Australia has been spared powerful surges of the extreme right throughout its history. While the nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw European democracies threatened time and time again by movements relying on ethno-exclusivism and thriving on capitalist crises, Australia suffered only relatively weak extreme right bursts whose impact remained marginal. Even the rise of the One Nation Party in 1996, as sudden as it was impressive, showed the limits in the Australian context for organisations which have proved long-lasting in Europe.

This brief outline could bear a simple conclusion: Australia is immune to the extreme right. However, through a study of some of the most important extreme right failures in Australia, this article shows that rather than being immune, the country was spared an extreme right because of the policies put in place by mainstream parties and governments. By analysing mainstream politics in times of extreme right resurgence, this article highlights that by negating the extreme right’s ability to appear as an alternative to the power in place, Australian mainstream politicians suffocated it.

The conclusion of this article demonstrates that while the Australian extreme right has been mostly inaudible since 2001, extreme right politics, such as ethno-exclusivism, still play a crucial part in the shaping of Australian politics, notably during election campaigns.

Keywords: extreme right, Australian history, ethno-exclusivism, populism, democracy

Nicolas Sarkozy's Legitimisation of the Front National: Background and Perspectives

by Aurelien Mondon

This article will be published in the final issue of this year or the first issue of next year of Patterns of Prejudice.

An electronic copy might be available earlier.

Many commentators saw in the ‘poor’ result achieved by Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 2007 presidential elections the demise... more Many commentators saw in the ‘poor’ result achieved by Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 2007 presidential elections the demise of the Front National. However, when asked by a journalist whether it was the end of her father’s political career, Marine Le Pen replied smiling: ‘I don’t think so. In any case, this is the victory of his ideas!’ In these question and answer lie the whole story of the Front National and its impact on mainstream politics in the past two decades. First, Le Pen’s defeat was exaggerated, the same way his victory had in 2002. In what was seen as the demise of the Front National, Le Pen managed to obtain almost 4 million votes despite the candidature of far right Philippe de Villiers and still ranked fourth in the tally. Furthermore, that Le Pen managed to retain these votes despite the adverse context was a victory in itself. The five years between the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections had indeed led to drastic changes in the way politics was done in France.

What is argued in this article is that the 2002 presidential elections did act as an ‘earthquake’ within French politics. However, this ‘earthquake’ was not so much triggered by a Jean-Marie Le Pen tsunami, but rather by a tidal wave of misinformation and misunderstanding of the real interests and novelty of the results of these elections. By concentrating on the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, this article will highlight how this reaction led to the consecration of right wing populist politics best exemplified in the landslide election of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.

2012 - The Year of the Front

by Aurelien Mondon

Published in Z Magazine - March issue

The Guardian believes she is “the most dangerous woman in France.” Less than 100 days before the 2012 presidential... more The Guardian believes she is “the most dangerous woman in France.” Less than 100 days before the 2012 presidential election on April 22, Marine Le Pen appears to be the best contender the extreme right Front National has ever put forward. A sign of changing times, she is also only the second candidate the party has ever put forward for president in France. In a party like the Front National (FN), where tradition is a core value, there can only be so much change. It is not surprising that it was the daughter of the old chief who was voted president of the party in January 2011. Nor is it surprising that, despite an effort to modernize and moderate aspects of the party, the broad lines of the program remain based on a strong anti-immigrant sentiment and exaggerated nationalism. Right-wing populism, which made Le Pen senior a serious candidate for two decades, remains central to the politics of the party.