Contemporary Populism Research Articles

Challenging anti-Western historical myths in populist discourse: re-visiting Ottoman Empire–Europe interaction during the 19th century

In this article, we conceptualize and demonstrate how historical International Relations (IR) can be employed to critically engage with the populist uses of history at present. In this endeavour, we focus on myths as analytical nodal points. We revisit the rich interdisciplinary literature on myths to conceptually connect historical research that unsettles myths with political critiques of myths in terms of their naturalizing effects at present. We also expand the critical agenda of historical IR research into targeting the prevalent historical myths of Self and Other that are employed to promote antagonism in contemporary politics. We illustrate the potential that historical IR research holds in illuminating and debunking the contemporary populist uses of history through the case of the relations between Europe and the Ottoman Empire and its relationship with present-day anti-Western populism in Turkey. Via the notion of myth, we combine a critical discourse analysis of the ample historical references in Erdoğan’s populist discourse with original historical analysis of the varied interactions between the Ottoman Empire and European states in the period invoked in those references. In doing so, we shed light on the relatively neglected Tanzimat (1839–1877) period in Euro-Ottoman history by drawing on pioneering secondary literature as well as our own analysis of primary sources. We demonstrate how the developments of this period debunk the myths of ‘Eternal Antagonism’ and ‘Europe the Protagonist’ and how they can inform less antagonistic Self/Other relations that are conducive to a more cosmopolitan co-existence in contemporary Turkey–Europe relations.

Understanding Contemporary Populism Through the Latin American Experience

This paper discusses how the Latin American experience can help us understand contemporary populism and its management. This topic starts from the assumption that structural change and social contexts help us explain the evolution of populism in the same way they helped explain the evolution of violence and management. To do so, we look at the state of the literature on populism, its relation to the Latin American experience, the evolution of the approach to populism, and the conclusions we can draw from these different perspectives. We conclude that contemporary populism is also limited in the same way the contextual approach to Latin American populism was limited. This also helps us understand why we still do not have a shared definition of populism. Overall, we lack the balance between generalisable and local definitions to help leaders manage the contemporary violence of populism.

Propositions on right-wing populism: Available, excessive, optimistic

Every discourse on right-wing populism is, more or less explicitly, a discourse on affect. From claims that right-wing populism emerges from a background of racialized resentment or the anger of the ‘left behind’, through to analyses of how populist politicians mobilized hatred and rage in a ‘post-truth era’, attempts to explain the emergence and electoral success of contemporary right-wing populism have centered affect. In the midst of the turbulence of post 2007 financial crisis politics, the discourse on right-wing populism has repeated the tensions and ambivalences that surround affective politics per se – with populism simultaneously serving as a warning of what an affect-based politics might become, whilst also seeming to offer a lesson for the liberal-left in how to mobilize and move people otherwise disaffected. In this paper we supplement this attention to affect, and step outside of this tensed relation, by articulating the structure of feeling of contemporary right-wing populism in the U.S.A and UK. We do so through the form of the proposition, finding in the proposition a style of inhabiting an impasse that (re/dis)orientates attention and opens up disagreement and further discussion. In the first proposition - populism is available – we explore questions of definition, settling on how the discursive emptiness of populism allows for its constant articulation. Populism is excessive – the second proposition – shifts to emphasizing the affective fullness of populism, following how this fullness plays out in registers such as fun. Our third proposition – populism is optimistic – argues that right-wing populism is dependent on a ‘temporal loop’ optimism where the future to come blurs with the past that was. We conclude with some reflections on the future of this affect structure in light of the January 2021 events in the US Capitol and the electoral defeat of Donald J Trump.

Contemporary Populism and the Environment

This review engages with literature on authoritarian populism, focusing specifically on its relationship to the environment. We analyze hybrid combinations of authoritarianism and populism to explore three themes from the literature: environmental governance, social and political representations of nature, and resistance. In the environmental governance section, we analyze how governments have increasingly resorted to populist politics to expand extractivism; certain commodities with national security implications have become key commodities to be protected; and borders, frontiers, and zones of inclusion/exclusion have become flash points. In the social and political representations of nature section, we analyze settler colonialism and sacrifice zones as organizing principles for relations with the environment. In our final section on resistance, we review literature highlighting pushback to authoritarian populism from peasant, indigenous, and worker movements. Variants of populism and authoritarianism are likely to persist amid increasing competition over resources as components of responses to environmental and climate crisis.

Mediatized Voices of Science: News Media Narratives of Science and Populism in the Philippines

ABSTRACT The news media are presumed to play a central role in bringing science to a wider public. However, the surge of antidemocratic forces helps illuminate the populist and anti-populist tendencies of media in demystifying science. This article shows that science and politics share an intrinsic affinity under contemporary populism. The digital reportage on the science and politics nexus uncovers media populism which largely crystallizes the mediatization of politics in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines. A reading of science-related articles published by the leading dominant news media outlets unfolds discursive narratives that impact the watchdog function of the Fourth Estate. “Government science” mainstreams official State accounts including the anti-science sentiments of Duterte. “Reforming science” is a middle-ground, reformist-inspired narrative that features legislative and policy measures. And “alternative science” advances the voices of non-State formations and challenges the administration’s science agenda. The implications of these narratives on media populism are presented.

The populist way out: Why contemporary populist leaders seek transnational legitimation

This article aims to contribute to the growing academic debate on the transnational drivers and patterns of contemporary populism. As populist leaderships expand both politically and geographically, the very nature of the populist phenomenon is changing, as it is increasingly being projected on the international stage. Contemporary populist leaders show a growing willingness to transfer the discursive construction of a struggle between ‘the people’ and ‘the elites’ to the regional and global levels as a way of obtaining internal and external legitimation. In so doing, they exploit the symbiotic two-level game that links national and international (de-)legitimation dynamics, seeking to gain ‘abroad’ the kind of legitimacy that they cannot obtain ‘at home’. This article suggests three mechanisms that explain the populist ‘way out’ from various legitimation traps based on the traditional distinctions between input, throughput, and output legitimacy. The article’s argument is illustrated with reference to prototypical cases of populism in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The incorporation of the literature on international legitimacy enhances our understanding of the strategic activation of populist attitudes through the transnational articulation of empty signifiers, the global diffusion of this phenomenon, and the possibilities for its contestation and mitigation.

ONTOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF REFLECTION ON RISK: RISK SOCIETY AND DIGITALIZATION

Given publication raises the question of the role of reflection on risk in the formation of political space and relations of various actors. The author starts from the Hobbesian problem of the social order to define the role of the state in the formation of the space of certainty/security. For this purpose reflection on risk is considered as an ontological principle, that allows political subjects to create a boundary between stabilized knowledge as a valid present and uncertainty as an area of the future with multiple outcomes. The analysis determines various theoretical implications and concepts as a way for understanding the mechanisms of reflection on risk in the practices of various political actors and their relationships (state institutions, social movements, citizens, etc.). In this regard, the author considers the paradigm of cosmopolitanism to determine the possibilities to explore political dimension of risk. The analysis of specific events such as public conflicts and catastrophes makes it possible to identify the limitations of risk control imposed by the state and to determine the level of mass consciousness as a space and a source of multiple risk reflection, which is new could be related with contemporary political populism, irrationality and the actualization of conspiracy narratives as one of the ways to identify and stabilize perceived group or individual risks. The processes of digitalization themselves are considered as a way to reduce risk by managing it through the determination of attributes/characteristics of objects. On the other hand, digital communication is defined as a new way of existence of publicity, expanding opportunities for reflexivity due to the universal connectivity and fragmentation of audiences united by the perception of risk. This determines the possibilities for evaluation of the deflation of governance as risk/knowledge management and the degree of the gap in risk perception among various actors.

Taking back control over the economy: From economic populism to the economic consequences of populism

AbstractEconomic populism was once recognized as a paradigmatic understanding of the boom‐and‐bust cycles of Latin America. By now, the concept has lost its analytical strength and academic attractiveness. Nevertheless, policy analysts cannot neglect the supply side analysis of contemporary populism, that is, what populists actually do once elected into government. Adopting and operationalizing the ideational definition of populism, the article identifies three major consequences of populist incumbency: (1) the inclination of populists to embark on redistributive policies favoring “our” people against “others,” (2) their critical attitude toward autonomous organizations, professionals, and institutions, and (3) their antagonistic relationship with the competitive market mechanism. The article demonstrates that populism is no longer about myopic and irresponsible policies; instead, populists tend to disregard the institutional constraints of economic decision making.

Populist Government and Constitutional Democracy


 
 
 Until the first decade of the 21th century, scholars and reporters have identified contemporary populism as an element of anti-systemic revolt; furthermore, they have also recognized an incompatibility between populist phenomenon and government function. However, some recent cases of populist parties in power seem to be able to put into crisis more than one certainty regarding the nature and scope of the populist phenomenon. This observation raises the questions of this work: what harmful effects does populism in government produce on liberal institutions, pluralism, and representation in constitutional democracies? Do these effects merely erode the liberal component, or do they extend to produce a degeneration of democracy as a whole? And finally: what are the risks for democracy? The article corroborates the diarchic theories of democracy and aims to demonstrate the lack of compatibility between the principles of liberal democracy and populist principles, which have a negative impact not only on the liberal component, but also on the quality of democracy in its entirety.
 
 

A Pragma-Dialectical Approach to Memory Politics: Spanish Contemporary Memory Politics, Populism Studies, and Argumentative Dialectics

Abstract This paper establishes a dialogue between populism studies, typologies of reconstruction of the past, and argumentative dialectics. The paper analyzes what types of argumentative strategies are employed in the context of the discussions regarding Spanish memory politics and how those strategies can be associated with typologies of re-elaboration of the past (Caramani and Manucci 2019). Building from argumentative dialectics (Van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004), the paper studies argumentation structures uttered after the endorsement of the 2007 Spanish Historical Memory Law and the proposal of the 2021 Draft Democratic Memory Law. Departing from the distinction between diverse strategies of re-elaboration of the past, namely, heroization and cancellation (Caramani and Manucci 2019), the paper questions if Spanish decision-makers’ rhetorical strategies and political decisions in the field of memory politics disclose the adoption of particular types of populist behavior. The paper claims that the argumentative tactics used, in the domain of memory politics, by Spanish left-wing leaders reveal the adoption of a heroization strategy. In contrast, the rhetoric of Spanish right-wing leaders favors a strategy of cancellation. The paper also claims that, in the Spanish case, mainly from 2018 onwards, the adoption by Spanish left-wing leaders of a heroization strategy had two consequences. First, it did not reduce the cultural opportunity structure for right-wing populism. Second, it fostered a cultural opportunity structure for the affirmation of left-wing populism. The paper selected argumentative dialectics as a methodological framework (Van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004). The paper discusses the scientific significance of analyzing memory politics through the lenses of populism studies.

Rethinking populism and its threats and possibilities: Ponowne zastanowienie się nad populizmem – jego wyzwaniami i możliwościami

Resurgent populism – with crime as a core theme - is depicted as a dangerous perversion of liberal democracy. But by avoiding a definition of populism, critics tend to simply conflate populism with contemporary right-wing authoritarianism. Academic analysis, including criminological, is not free of such tendencies. After a brief consideration of criminology’s engagement with penal populism and the recent spread of a more far-reaching authoritarian political populism, the article argues for the need to more carefully conceptualise populism. Theoretical clarity is needed for assessing the character of contemporary populism; for grasping its drivers in, for example, neo-liberal globalization and what Crouch calls “post democracy”; and for discerning its possible future trajectories, progressive as well as regressive. It is also argued that simple denunciations of populism often reflect a complacent liberal mentality that contributes to political disaffection fuelling populist movements, and overlooks legitimate grievances, including the (often criminal) failings of liberal institutions. Rather than being a political aberration, populism, it is argued, should be seen as a “normal” dimension of democratic politics with implications for criminal policy (as well as politics at large).

Facebook populism: mediatized narratives of exclusionary nationalism in the Philippines

ABSTRACT Nationalism is presumed to promote individual and collective freedoms. Under contemporary populism, however, its inclusive vision is reformatted toward an ‘us-versus-them’ form. Against the backdrop of media populism, this article shows how exclusionary nationalism hinges on the communicative might of Facebook which forms part of the bigger project of mediatization of politics in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines. Through a reading of Duterte pages and interviews with journalists, it examines the prominent themes and narratives that stitch the ‘pro-Duterte’ and ‘anti-critics’ divide. The former is characterized by pro-masses icon, mainstreaming of infrastructure programmes, and police-military forces, and the latter by anti-indigenous hate, homogenization of opposition, and red-tagging. The implications of these narratives on media populism are presented.

English Language Teaching and Language Teacher Education in Turkey- An Evolutionary Overview

This study provides a much-needed socio-political perspective on language teaching in Turkey and identifies key influences and orthodoxies past and present and their impact on current practices of language learning. The researchers provide a refreshing critique of successive cycles of policies and how they have variously sought to secure starting with imperial, nationalist, and contemporary populist ambitions of language teaching in the classroom and beyond. Almost 150 years of such efforts have frequently shoehorned teaching practices with inevitable consequences for language acquisition from primary education to university. Along with the contemporary educational changes before and after the foundation of the Turkish Republic, the researchers aim to shed light on the chronological records of language teacher education by drawing parallelism between general teacher education and language teacher education in Turkey. The paper concludes with suggestions for improving our understanding of present-day challenges in a field that remains fundamental to the future of the country.

At the Intersections of Populism, Nationalism and Islam: Justice and Development Party and Populist Reconfiguration of Religion in Politics

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between populism, nationalism and religion through evidence from Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule. The literature on the populism’s rapport with nationalism has developed in isolation from the burgeoning theorization of populism-religion nexus. This study has a two-fold contribution. Theoretically, it advances a historical approach to deepen our understanding of the widespread appeal of contemporary populism. It argues that populism can capitalize on unique contextual fusions of religion and ethnic (secular) nationalism that originate from historical legacies and ideas of modern nation-building to (re)construct the antagonistic discourse dividing the society into two camps of ‘the people’ and ‘the elites’. Empirically, by drawing upon discourse theory and empirical analysis of the AKP’s public discourse, the study offers a nuanced approach to the AKP’s much-debated stance on religion as an ideology versus instrument. Three areas are investigated to exemplify AKP’s construction of populist dichotomy: a) ethnic and religious minorities, b) women, and c) youth. The analysis reveals that the AKP has built three different, and at times, contradictory articulations of 'people as underdogs’, ‘people as nation’ and ‘people as the ummah’ against ‘the secular elites’, ‘the enemies within’ and ‘the West’, respectively.

Populist authoritarian neoliberalism in Brazil: making sense of Bolsonaro's anti-environment agenda

In Brazil, the looming threat of mass extinction has prompted increasingly exceptional measures to protect sensitive biomes. At the same time, such measures threaten to curtail capitalist expansion and thus Brazil's neoliberal model of economic development. Jair Bolsonaro's 2018 presidential campaign responded to these threats by fueling anti-environment sentiments and anti-environmentalist enmity. Once inaugurated, he immediately began the work of dismantling national environmental governance structures. Yet his strategies for doing so are often masked by what this article describes as a 'firehouse effect', where his tactics appear chaotic, confused, and lacking any particular goal. The article uses a combination of interviews with 35 environmental experts, participant observation, and a review of secondary sources to zoom in on Bolsonaro's anti-environmentalism within the context of the contemporary turn toward populist authoritarian neoliberalism. By focusing on how Bolsonaro's policies serve to weaken protective environmental measures that limit capitalist extraction, the article unearths the major anti-environment strategies of the Bolsonaro administration. This framework thus allows us to see through the 'firehouse effect' to make some sense of Bolsonaro's methods, further building on emerging research on the political ecologies of the contemporary populist authoritarian neoliberal turn. Moreover, the article shows the utility of applying a generalized populist authoritarian neoliberal framework to a particular context in order to identify its local processes and specificities.

‘Empty signifier’: The concept of ‘populism’ in the contemporary mainstream political science

The paper aims to clarify the origins of contemporary populism, as well as to outline the prospects for further research on this matter. The author examines this phenomenon within the framework of the dominant mainstream in political science. The latter imply the totality of approaches to conceptualization of the key modern social, economic, political and cultural issues. The author advances a hypothesis that both the extreme diversity of the views regarding the nature of populism and the impossibility to develop an all-encompassing defi nition of this paradoxical phenomenon directly stem from the characteristic features of this dominant discourse. The paper shows that this discourse emerged from the overlapping narratives of transition, modernization, free market, unlimited economic growth and ‘the end of history’ and establishes an hierarchy of global knowledge based on three principles: Western dominance, capitalism and liberalism. The author emphasizes that within this theoretical framework non-Western populism is portrayed as a relatively progressive phenomenon, as a means and an indicator of progress towards capitalism and democracy. In this case populism is interpreted as an element of transition to a ‘proper’ Modernity. However, identical political movements, practices and rhetoric of the Western populists are usually portrayed as a deviation from the norm, from Modernity in general and the ideals of liberal democracy in particular. Meanwhile, the paper argues that as Western liberal democracies transform into ‘conciliatory democracies’ (‘oligarchies’) and increasingly resemble ‘defective democracies’, they themselves start to deviate from the normative ideal, just as any regime they label ‘populist’. Therefore, the existing concepts of populism signify not only a certain deviation from the ideal but also the birth of a new reality which cannot be conceptualized within the framework of the contemporary mainstream political science. The concept of populism appears as an ‘empty signifier’ and as a collective term for all inconvenient and troubling social-political phenomena that mainstream political scientists are unable or unwilling to explain.

Education cleavages, or market society and the rise of authoritarian populism?

ABSTRACT This paper explores how, in what ways, and with what outcomes, deep structural transformations have reconstituted higher education in England, and are deeply implicated in the rise of authoritarian populism. We focus particularly on the ways in which our understandings and lived experiences of class, social mobility, meritocracy, social inequality, and social justice have been transformed. We explore three transformations in higher education that have created fertile conditions for the rise of authoritarian populism: (i) the individualizing of the self and neoliberal ethics; (ii) the erasure of collective class politics and the creation of a new class identity based on consumption; (iii) the creation of a neoliberal meritocratic social order. We argue that cleavage theory which links level of education to contemporary populism is too dichotomous (educated cosmopolitan versus low-education nationalist). Such accounts overlook the extent to which three decades of neoliberalism and the creation of a market society has produced new social inequalities that are paradoxically normalised whilst fuelling a politics of resentment [Cohen, Jean L. 2019. “Populism and the Politics of Resentment.” Jus Cogens 1 (1): 5–39.].

Populism, culture and class: articulation and performance in contemporary British populism

ABSTRACT This research examines the role of populism and class within the discourse of three contemporary British political party leaders. It begins by outlining the Essex-School perspective, focusing upon populism’s antagonistic division between ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ and its relationship with class. Following this, an overview of Pierre Bourdieu’s research upon class helps explore cultural and economic class capital’s complexities and contemporary British relevance. Attention then turns to the role of populism and class in contemporary British political discourse. Analysis of Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon’s political articulation exposes an important overlap of populist and class-based appeals. This intersect sees cultural class meaningfully aid the populist toolkit; whilst populism reciprocally broadens class appeals. Cultural class signifiers remedy populism’s empty heart, providing a relatable connection to ‘the people’ through behaviour and symbolism. This indicates a multi-dimensional populist approach; elucidating how populists have successfully engaged broadly with the electorate.

Anxiety, Ambivalence, and the Violence of Expectations: Migrant Reception and Resettlement in Sicily

ABSTRACT Throughout Europe, the arrival of irregular migrants in recent years has triggered the expression of nativist anxieties, witnessing a broad recourse to violent rhetoric and the embrace of exclusivist models of national and regional community. With an ethnographic focus on migrant resettlement in Sicily, this paper argues that the elaboration of a cosmopolitan ethic that rejects the politics of exclusion can be met with ambivalence by local people who share neither the middle-class sensibilities of refugee advocates, nor their access to the public funds by which it is possible to earn income as social service and resettlement workers. Consequently, migrant advocacy is dogged by the widespread presumption that its aims are not necessarily altruistic, and that the apparatus of migrant resettlement is staffed by actors best positioned to take advantage of the lucrative opportunities presented by the migrant crisis. At the same time, newcomers’ incorporation into the body politic as a reserve army of labour, and the expectation imposed upon them to adapt to host communities and contribute productively to the local economy in any way they can, represents a key element of migrant marginalisation that even their own advocates do not explicitly question. Finally, this marginalisation is further exacerbated by contemporary populist rhetoric that positions newcomers as an existential threat to the society.

Society and territory: making sense of Italian populism from a historical perspective

ABSTRACT Italy is depicted as a populist promised land. Especially within Western Europe, Italy is an outlier in terms of support for and varieties of populist parties. Yet, common explanations of populism do not fully account for the Italian exceptionality, while single-country studies often present time-wise limited focus or anecdotical evidence. This article contributes by providing a novel interpretation of Italian populism since 1945 through a three-step process. First, the Italian populist success is theoretically linked to societal anti-parliamentarism and anti-elitism, whose roots date back to the formation of the unitary state and its institutional weakness. Second, it is argued that traditional intra-country differences in terms of voting behavior still matter when it comes to providing the opportunity structure for populist parties. Finally, a preliminary empirical analysis shows that – in line with expectations – different political traditions across the national territory are likely to determine the success of specific types of populism. The findings are relevant for the generation of new hypotheses about the societal origins of contemporary populist parties.