The Firm and the Nation: The Role of Fantasy in the Czech Populist Movements of ANO and SPD

Abstract

Populism in Central Europe remains an elusive subject to grasp. In relation to neoliberal hegemony, the question remains whether populism represents its rupture or consolidation. This paper explores populist tendencies in Czechia by analysing the discourses of two prominent politicians, Andrej Babiš and Tomio Okamura, in their campaigns ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections. Drawing on post-structuralist discourse theory, the analysis looks for key signifiers, narratives and ways certain topics are articulated, making use of a theoretical account of populism as a political logic, rather than an ideology, as well as the concept of fantasy derived from lacanian psychoanalysis. Exploration of the relation between fantasy and populism is of vital theoretical relevance. The paper focuses on corruption as a possible dislocation of neoliberal hegemony that led to an organic crisis. In the context of extreme distrust in politicians and parties both Babiš and Okamura presented anti-corruption narratives that gained resonance, both rearticulating neoliberalism in specific ways and relying on fantasmatic narratives. While Babiš drew on neoliberal discourses surrounding citizenship and work, Okamura radicalized them into an exclusionary populism that seeks to rid society of “parasites”. Both blame the elites - connected with corrupt politicians and their business godfathers.