НОВЫЙ ЛЕВЫЙ РАДИКАЛИЗМ И ПОПУЛИЗМ В ЗАПАДНОЙ ЕВРОПЕ: ЧТО НОВОГО?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the features of the new left radicalism in Western Europe on the example of three parties: SYRIZA (Greece), "Unconquered France" (France) and "Podemos" (Spain). In 2012 - 2019 these three left-wing radical parties made a rapid political and electoral spurt. The first and main feature of these parties, which largely predetermined their successes, is populism. As an ideological platform, they chose left-wing populism in the form as it was justified by E. Laclau and consisting in the rejection of the class approach and in the persistent opposition of "we" - "they", "people" - "caste", "oligarchs" etc. The discursively constructed "people" are supposed to be honest, pure and poor, the "caste" or "oligarchy" is corrupted and depraved both politically, economically and morally. The second feature is the widespread use of Web 2.0, various digital technologies, platforms and social media, with the help of which thousands of party members could submit their proposals and discuss them. Rising on a wave of dissatisfaction with austerity policies, SYRIZA and Podemos were able to really participate in the formation of the government (and Unconquered France - to claim that its candidate would become one of the two or three main contenders for the presidency). However, radical socio-economic reforms are likely not included in the plans of the current Western European radical left. Judging by the rapid decline in the tone of the election campaigns, their goal was to oust and replace the existing Social Democratic parties (which SYRIZA succeeded in) and to pursue a moderate policy in a neo-Keynesian spirit.