Abstract
While research tends to explore questions of power and leadership at the national level, populism in Europe has moved beyond national borders, with an increasing number of transnational movements and organizations. This article investigates the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) and its leadership’s main speeches. Informed by both discourse theory and Michel Foucault’s work on parrhesia (veridiction), the analysis draws on readings of transnational Euroalternativism and populism, pointing out the conflicting logic of bringing them together at the transnational level. Our findings thus stress the increasing politicization of European integration as an opportunity to mobilize transnational activities, which are based on the populist ‘people vs. the elites’ dichotomy and against Brussels’ unaccountable elites (see FitzGibbon & Guerra, 2019), while indicating the limits of leadership in a populist transnational movement (de Cleen, Moffitt, Panayotu, & Stavrakakis, 2019; Marzolini & Souvlis, 2016).
Highlights
The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) officially took off at the Volksbühne in Rosa Luxembourg Platz, in Berlin, on Tuesday 9th February 2016
Having elaborated on how the question of leadership affects the transnational expansion of DiEM25, the conclusion of this study addresses the weakness of shifting to a homogeneous people for a transnational populist movement and we underline the political potential of a progressive Euroalternativist movement speaking truth to power via its leader(ship)
“We are inspired by a Europe of Reason, Liberty, Tolerance and Imagination made possible by comprehensive Transparency, real Solidarity and authentic Democracy” (DiEM25, n.d.-f)
Summary
The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) officially took off at the Volksbühne (the ‘People’s Theatre’) in Rosa Luxembourg Platz, in Berlin, on Tuesday 9th February 2016. In order to fill this gap, our analysis examines the use of Euroalternativist discourses by the political leadership in transnational populism, using DiEM25 as its case study. In terms of discourse theory, signifiers such as ‘change the EU’ or ‘for a more democratic Europe’ are used tendentially in Varoufakis’ Euroalternativist discourse as unspoken truths They can bring together the notion of the people, and establish an internal frontier in Europe’s social space between an ‘us, the pan-European people’ versus ‘them, the Brussels’ elites.’. Having elaborated on how the question of leadership affects the transnational expansion of DiEM25, the conclusion of this study addresses the weakness of shifting to a homogeneous people for a transnational populist movement and we underline the political potential of a progressive Euroalternativist movement speaking truth to power via its leader(ship)
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