Populist Research Articles

Administration as Democratic Trustee Representation

AbstractThe “folk” theory of democracy that typically justifies the administrative state cannot help but lead to a discourse of constraint. If agency action is only legitimate when it mechanically applies the will of the voters as transposed by Congress through statutes, then the norms guiding that action will inevitably restrain agency discretion. As a result, attempts to establish the democratic credentials of the administrative state ironically obstruct the application of collective power. But this “folk” theory of democracy is bad theory. It is empirically incredible and, alarmingly, facilitates dangerous populist politics. Political theory instead suggests that a theory of democratic representation not only better explains legislative outcomes, but also deprives demagogues and deregulatory partisans of the fictions that prop up their agendas. After a brief survey of representative theory, this article will demonstrate that a model of trustee representation adequately describes administration, reinforces its democratic credentials and constitutes a space for politics in shaping the regulations that govern us all.

Differences in the reproductive output and larval survival of Rocky Mountain wood ticks (Dermacentor andersoni) and American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis) from prairie populations near their northern distributional limits in western Canada.

The effects of temperature and relative humidity (RH) on female reproductive output, egg development and larval survival were determined for Rocky Mountain wood ticks (Dermacentor andersoni) from a prairie population (Chin Lakes, Alberta, Canada) near the northern distribution limit of this species. The responses of D. andersoni eggs and unfed larvae to different temperature (25 or 32°C) and RH (35, 55, 75, 85 or 95%) regimes were compared to our previously published data (Diyes et al. 2021) for a northern prairie population of American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis). Oviposition by D. andersoni females took 21-30 days at 25°C and 95% RH compared to 10-21 days for D. variabilis. The number of eggs laid by female ticks was strongly dependent on their engorgement weight, and D. andersoni females produced more eggs than D. variabilis females of an equivalent body weight. Eggs of D. andersoni took less time to develop at 32°C than 25°C with ≥ 85% RH, and hatched faster than those of D. variabilis. Larval survival times declined as temperature increased and RH decreased, but D. andersoni survived longer at 32°C and ≤ 75% RH than D. variabilis. The interspecific differences in responses to the same temperature and humidity regimes indicate that D. andersoni is xerophilic, whereas D. variabilis is hydrophilic. Hence, 'prairie' populations of the Rocky Mountain wood tick occur in the drier grassland ecoregions but are absent in Aspen Parklands Ecoregion which is located to the north and east of the distributional range of D. andersoni.

The spirit of populism: sacred, charismatic, redemptive, and apocalyptic dimensions

ABSTRACT Populism is a global phenomenon with a power and resilience that frequently surprises political observers. This article builds from the theoretical work of Margaret Canovan and others to investigate the “spirit” of populism in terms of its quasi-religious and post-rational dimensions. It puts forward a theoretical account of four spiritual dimensions of populism: the sacred, charismatic, redemptive, and apocalyptic. Each of these dimensions is underpinned by previous research from political science, sociology, and the study of New Religious Movements, and is explained with various international case examples of populist leaders and movements ranging from India to the United States. The four dimensions are brought together in a shared analysis here for the first time. It is argued that these dimensions together amount to emotionally powerful dynamics that give the meaning-orientation and motivation that propel populist movements forward and hasten democratic backsliding.

“Long Live Freedom!”: Digital Communication of Argentina’s Emerging Libertarian Populism

Social networks have become the ideal platform for populist leaders to directly engage with their followers, facilitating the dissemination of polarizing narratives. Populist actors have gained electoral momentum in different parts of the world by importing populist content from diverse national contexts. Argentina’s legislative elections in 2021 are a case in point. The main objective of this study is to examine the communication strategy employed by Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist politician, on Instagram during this electoral campaign. Through a quantitative content analysis, we identify the thematic and populist elements present in Milei’s Instagram posts. Our findings reveal a new style of ‘libertarian’ populism, which employs discursive components previously used by populist parties from various ideologies and the strategic alignment of political communication with opportunistic themes and contextual dynamics. Milei focuses on positioning himself as the leader of the electoral campaign, with minimal emphasis on concrete policy proposals. His populist strategy revolves around attacking ideological adversaries (such as communism and feminism) and denouncing the corrupt political ‘caste’. Unlike other rightwing populist politicians, Milei’s discourse does not particularly focus on the issue of immigration.

Civil-Military Relations in the Age of Populist Nationalism: The Case of Israel

Abstract One underplayed aspect of the current populist zeitgeist is the politicization of the military, adding to the growing list of dangers that democracies face today. Israel, which has experienced its own nationalistic populism since 2010, represents a deviant case with regard to the civil–military dimension. In contrast to the typical pattern of populist leaders enhancing the military's influence to bolster their own power, in Israel, populist politicians have sought to restrain the military top brass from the decision-making process, going as far as delegitimizing them by portraying them as part of the “leftist” out-of-touch elite. In a country in which the lines between the military and civilian spheres have traditionally been blurred and where security officials have played a significant role in decision-making, this has been a noteworthy development in the era of Benjamin Netanyahu. This article advances two causal claims pertaining to the Israeli case. First, perceived military setbacks and political-diplomatic moves associated with the military have diminished the once-hallowed reputation of the Israel Defense Forces. Second, right-wing politicians often view the military top brass as potential political rivals, given the standard practice in Israel of high-ranking generals entering politics upon retirement. The generals’ declining status in Israeli society has opened up the political space for populist nationalists to assault both active and retired security officials whose assessments often clash with the worldview of right-wing politicians.

Estimating the Socio-Economic Status of the U.S. Capitol Insurrectionists

Abstract The income of those who attacked the U.S. Congress on January 6, 2021 and were subsequently arrested is estimated for the first time using the annual per-capita income in the neighborhood of their residence as a proxy measure. Contrary to common wisdom, we find that two groups were conspicuously underrepresented from this subset of the insurrectionists (N = 933): the utterly poor (whose estimated per- capita income was below $15 K), as well as those whose estimated annual per-capita income was above $50 K per annum. Fully 83.3 % of the arrestees resided in areas with a (five-year average) annual per capita income between $20 K and $50 K (in 2020 prices). This finding dovetails with the argument that the right-wing populist movement in the U.S. is driven largely by the struggling lower-middle class who have been left behind by the transition from an industrial to a knowledge economy. The public policy implications point to the amelioration of this distributional deficit.

Populist Hyperpartisans?: The Interaction Between Partisan Media Exposure and Populism in the 2020 US Presidential Election

ABSTRACT Aspects of our political world brought to the forefront in recent years include the impact of declining media trust and a surge of populist politicians around the globe. Highlighting those aspects, this study utilizes representative data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) collected during the 2020 US Presidential Election. We examine the relationship between use of different media (mainstream liberal, mainstream conservative, and hyper-conservative) and media trust as well as the moderating role of populist beliefs. Results found that hyper-conservative media use and anti-elitist populist beliefs are negatively associated with media trust while liberal media use is positively associated with media trust; mainstream conservative media use is unrelated to media trust when controlling for other media types and populist beliefs. This lack of a main effect for conservative media is clarified by examining the interaction with anti-elitist populism, which shows increased use of conservative media for individuals with low levels of populist beliefs is associated with increased media trust while the opposite is true for those high in populist beliefs.

Toward a resonant society

In this interview, the internationally renowned German sociologist Hartmut Rosa engages in a conversation about resonance, critical theory, politics, and sociology. Rosa discusses populist politics and emotions, and he frames this discussion through his concept of resonance and its implications for politics and democracy. The interview was made in connection with a public lecture Rosa held in Gothenburg in March 2023, titled In search of the prime mover: Can there be a valid conception of social energy?

Perceptions of Civil Servant Corruption: A Cross-Country Analysis

Distrust in the civil service is not unique to any country but felt across much of the globe amid ascendant populist movements. A significant correlate of distrust in the civil service is the perception of corruption among bureaucrats. Our research addresses two main questions. First, in OECD countries, to what extent does the public view bureaucrats as corrupt? Second, what factors explain these perceptions? Data from 23 countries in the International Social Survey Programme’s 2016 Role of Government survey are analyzed using multilevel logistic regression models. Among the explanatory variables included in this multilevel analysis are respondents’ exposure to bribery, political party support, and political efficacy. Country-level correlates drawn from the 2016 Worldwide Governance Indicators are analyzed to explore the impact of governance quality on corruption perceptions. Results indicate that better quality of government is associated with lower perceptions of bureaucratic corruption. Likewise, notable individual-level findings suggest political efficacy and exposure to corruption are significantly associated with corruption perceptions.

Populism in Canada: Something old, something new

The electoral success of populist movements in recent years has encouraged parties and politicians to incorporate populist themes increasingly into their discourse. While Canada has not been immune to these trends, populism has enjoyed relatively little electoral success in modern Canadian politics. A new People’s Party fielded candidates in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections but failed to win any seats in Parliament. Some populist themes such as nativism or authoritarianism have not rewarded their proponents in Canadian elections. Another dimension, distrust of elites, politicians and the media, is more present in Canadian public opinion today, and was a part of past populist movements such as Social Credit or Reform. In this paper, we examine the structure and correlates of populist attitudes held by Canadians, utilizing data from the 2019 and 2021 Canadian Election Studies. In conclusion, we consider the potential for a populist political party or leader to enjoy electoral success in the Canada of today.

“Cultural Trauma, Populist Grand Narratives, and Brexit”

Abstract Recently, increased academic attention has been paid to the role played in populist rhetoric by narratives surrounding humiliation and trauma. These studies analytically focus on how populist politicians use such narratives to legitimize their messages, as a response to genuine voter demands or worries. We argue populist messaging may just as easily be constructed through a top–down, elite-driven process, rather than in response to grassroots demands. We examine the use of cultural trauma and humiliation in narratives surrounding Brexit from 2013 to the present day. We argue that these narratives, which typically tended to focus on the UK’s loss of international status during the twentieth century (and the role that membership of the EU played in this), were largely constructed by pro-Brexit members of the British political establishment and the Conservative Party. We find that these articulations served two main purposes. First, they allowed prominent Brexiteers to build a defensive wall around themselves against criticism from domestic and foreign political rivals. Secondly, they significantly raised the political significance of the process of Brexit. This allowed Brexit to be portrayed as a grand project of national rejuvenation, and its supporters as the defenders of this project. Thus, Brexit, and narratives evoking humiliation and trauma, remained central even after the country formally left the EU. Indeed, Brexit itself has become a traumatic event invoking further grand narratives that continue to draw on and create a sense of humiliation and cultural trauma, both for those who voted to leave and to remain.

The Recognition of Minority Rights in International Law: A Historical Review

This study examines the history of minority rights in international law. It begins with the early recognition of minority rights, including the Treaty of Westphalia and the Congress of Vienna, and the emergence of the concept of national minorities in Europe. The article examines minority rights in Europe during the Congress of Berlin and the interwar activities of the League of Nations. Post-World War II developments are explored, with a focus on UN minority recognition. The article also emphasises the role of international human rights legislation in protecting minority rights through treaties like the ICCPR and CRC. It also examines the regional human rights protection mechanisms in Europe, America, Africa, and the Arab region. The paper sheds light on modern minority rights issues like self-determination, cultural rights, political representation, equality, non-discrimination, etc. At the same time, the article also identifies sovereignty, globalisation, terrorism, and nationalist and populist movements as barriers to the process of recognising and protecting minority rights. The conclusion summarises the findings and guides future studies, highlighting the need to maintain and enhance minority rights globally while balancing complex and competing interests.

The role of the left to the path to a minimum income policy in Italy

ABSTRACT In 2018, Italy became the last of the E.U. member states to introduce a minimum income policy. Our work helps explain why Italy was a laggard in this field by investigating the role the Italian left played, historically, in the evolution of policies to combat poverty. This is a surprisingly neglected topic. We argue that until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Italian left focused on labour-market insiders – that is, full-time core workers – and appeared largely unconcerned about the most vulnerable individuals, the outsiders, thus accepting the lack of policies to combat poverty. The policy status quo, however, dovetailed with a lively debate among left-wing intellectuals and politicians. This debate paved the way for several attempts by left-wing governments in the 1990s to implement a national pilot scheme (called the Reddito Minimo di Inserimento [R.M.I.]) along with local minimum income policies. The electoral success in 2013 of a new populist movement, the Five-star Movement (M.5.s.), campaigning on the flagship project of the Reddito di Cittadinanza (R.d.C.), fuelled the political debate on anti-poverty policies. This electoral ‘threat’ finally convinced the centre-left government under Paolo Gentiloni to establish in 2018 the Reddito di Inclusione, the first minimum income scheme in Italy. Our work demonstrates the importance of political variables, such as the structure and dynamics of party competition, in the fight against poverty. It also highlights the role of the Italian left as a political innovator in this field.

The Forgotten Father: Freedom and its Foes in Karl Jaspers’ Post-war Writings

Largely forgotten today, Karl Jaspers was one of the foremost public figures in post-war Germany to champion the idea of liberty, offering a unique blend of paternalist and populist politics. Freedom for Jaspers was both ideal and real, tied closely to the depths of existential being yet made concrete through the actions and choices of thinking individuals. Alongside developing this multi-layered conception of freedom, Jaspers also set out a number of ways that a culture of freedom could be fostered on both a national and an international level. A nationwide political education, guided by both paternalist great statesmen and by the people themselves, was to form the bedrock of Germany’s transition to democracy. Internationally, Jaspers believed that a decentralised system of cooperation, one which rose above the world’s increasingly irrelevant nation states, was the only means to stave off the dangers of totalitarianism. By placing Jaspers in his historical and intellectual contexts and comparing him with his contemporaries, we can shine new light into the tensions behind the polemics of this philosopher turned political pundit and highlight his important role as one of the Bundesrepublik’s intellectual fathers.

Emergency Aesthetics: The Case of the Four Faces of Omarska

Abstract This article examines how contemporary artists from the Western Balkans have sought to engage with the legacy of ethnonationalist violence. While attempts to examine and openly discuss war crimes that occurred in this region during the 1990s have largely been undermined by populist politics in successor states, the domain of art has provided a critical platform for disrupting the official erasure of these atrocities. This investigation focuses on the Four Faces of Omarska art collective, whose members examine the war crimes that occurred following the break-up of socialist Yugoslavia by studying the transformation of the Omarska site in north-western Bosnia – a location that has variously served as a mining complex, a death camp, and a set for the filming of an ‘ethno-blockbuster.’ In providing a comprehensive (art) historical analysis of their practice, the article considers the collective's public engagement strategies by invoking Santiago Zabala's concept of ‘emergency aesthetics’ as a method for countering the political erasure of urgent issues. This analysis reveals that the significance of the Four Faces of Omarska project extends beyond its immediate post-socialist context, and indeed provides a model of creative practice fit for our era of planetary crisis.

Left populism, commons and radical democracy: counter-hegemonic alliances in our times

This paper advances the thesis that democratic populism and the commons can and should complement each other in counter-hegemonic interventions promoting egalitarian and ecological democracy in our times. After elucidating its key terms, the article makes, first, a theoretical case for the combination of egalitarian, inclusionary populism and the commons by debunking arguments which highlight the conflicts between them and by explaining the political significance of their conjugation. Subsequently, discussion builds an empirical argument for the real possibility and the democratic promises of such a convergence by considering three ways in which populist politics and the commons merge and recompose each other in contemporary social movements, from the Spanish 15M and new municipalism to Occupy and other collective contestation in the Americas over the last two decades. These cases will illustrate how late social activism has effectively blended populist mobilization with the spirit of the commons, engendering a hybrid figure of ‘common populism’ that fosters grassroots processes of democratization.

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Move towards Authoritarianism: The Case of Hungary

As the Freedom House Report 2023 shows, there has been a global trend from democracy to
 authoritarianism over the past 17 years. This gained further momentum in late 2019 with the outbreak
 of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Wuhan, China. In the fight against this virus, which has
 resulted in the deaths of millions of people, governments implemented several significant measures,
 including closures, curfews, and mandatory vaccinations. Under the pretense of combatting the virus,
 populist politicians, who already had authoritarian inclinations before the pandemic, disregarded
 important democratic principles, such as free and fair elections, separation of powers, political liberties,
 and civil rights. The violations of these principles by populist leaders accelerated global democratic
 backsliding. In this context, in March 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary’s Prime
 Minister Viktor Orban, who has used every political crisis to find excuses to pursue undemocratic
 policies and strengthen his hold on power, pushed the Hungarian parliament to grant him extraordinary
 emergency powers. He used coronavirus precautions to establish one-man rule in Hungary by
 bypassing parliament. His government devised a legislative framework to suppress critics of its policies
 in the media, civil society, and the opposition. Orban also implemented restrictions violating judicial
 independence, minority rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly through constitutional
 amendments. In other words, Orban utilized the coronavirus outbreak to further weaken Hungary’s
 democratic structures and principles. Human rights organizations and the European Union have
 criticized Hungary’s slow erosion of democracy under Orban’s administration. This article analyzes
 the impact of COVID-19 on the acceleration of democratic backsliding in Hungary, under the rule of
 Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in terms of Wolfgang Merkel’s (2004) four conditions for democratic
 consolidation: electoral regimes, civil rights, political freedoms, and separation of powers.

A populist turn in the European left. What is new, and what is not?

ABSTRACT What is left-wing populism? Is it just populist rhetoric grafted onto a left-wing ideology? How can we distinguish the populist left from the socialist left, the communist left and the radical left? Is the difference between the populist left and the non-populist left one of degree or of nature? How can we explain the populist turn taken by part of the European left in the mid-2010s? What was the breeding ground for these new political forces? And what links do these European left-wing populist movements have with the similar forces that emerged ten years earlier in Latin America? In order to answer these questions, this article draws on a broad review of left-wing populism studies literature and on five years of fieldwork within two prototypical contemporary left-wing populist forces (Podemos and La France Insoumise). The result is a thick conception of the phenomenon and a set of six differences between populist and non-populist lefts.

Politisi dengan tingkat elektabilitas rendah dan strategi branding politik: analisis multimodalitas akun instagram puan maharani

Politicians potentially nominated by political party as a candidate for running in the elections commonly expected to get endorsement from a substantial number of electoral markets. Only few of them have a chance to do so however. In consideration of this, most of these politicians select and use particular semiotics codes strategically as an element to establish political branding strategy they carry out through media platforms, including social media. Having adopted Aaker’s (1997) concept of brand personality, this article examines how did Puan Maharani exploit semiotic code resources communicated through his Instagram account (@puanmaharaniri) as a political branding strategy. 3 materials posted in his Instagram account with high level engagement were selected, extracted and analyzed using multimodal analysis. The findings are follows. Puan deployed various kinds of semiotic code resources strategically. This includes strategic selection of represented participants, gestures, image composition, clothing colors, and hair styling. She kept exploiting all dimensions of brand personality, as posited by Aaker (1997), but she highlighted following three dimensions of this brand personality, which are competence, sophistication, and ruggedness much more and did it consistently. Political branding strategy she carried out was directed to create her personal political image as a populist politician; though this image belongs to her toughest rival from the party she associated with, which is Ganjar Pranowo

“You are fake news”

Abstract Using the methodology of conversation analysis and a modified analytical framework, this article attempts to characterize and investigate Trump’s practices to resist the agendas of the interviewers’ questions during the press briefings held by the Trump Administration in 2020. Statistical data show that Trump mainly used four types of overt resistant response practices in order of decreasing frequency: (1) Justifying the resistance; (2) Providing a partial answer; (3) Flatly refusing to answer without any explanation; and (4) Resorting to a personal attack, which is a new type of overt resistant practices. However, only one type of covert resistant response practice is identified, i.e. Repeating words subversively. The potential reasons for Trump’s use of such practices are discussed. In essence, Trump’s deliberate use of resistant response practices is a typical reflection of the right-wing populist politicians’ claim of “authenticity” rather than “truth” in the Post-Truth era.