How can political liberalism respond to contemporary populism?

2020 ◽  
pp. 147488512091130
Author(s):  
Andrew Reid
Keyword(s):  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The People ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Liberal Perspective ◽  
The Way ◽  
Populist Movements

Populism – which positions a ‘true people’ in opposition to a corrupt elite – is often contrasted with liberalism. This article initially outlines the incompatibility between populism and normative theories of political liberalism. It argues that populism is an unreasonable form of politics by liberals’ standards because: it unfairly excludes those who are not deemed to be part of the true ‘people’; and it is objectionably anti-pluralist in the way that it assumes unity amongst the ‘people’. Despite this, it is hard to derive specific duties to contain or challenge populism per se from a liberal perspective, though such a duty might be present for some forms of contemporary right-wing populism that combine populism with illiberal goals. Underpinning this view is a belief that many populist movements articulate grievances that are at least somewhat legitimate. The article concludes by arguing that there might be circumstances where a populist movement could, against this backdrop of injustice, advance the liberal cause. However, this is not because there are ways of dissolving the tension between political liberalism and populism, but because political liberals might be justified in violating the regulatory norms that they believe ought to govern politics in some, exceptional, circumstances.

scholarly journals Populism

Soundings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (72) ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
David Featherstone ◽  
Lazaros Karaliotas
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Grassroots Politics ◽  
The People ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Populism refers to forms of politics that put 'the people' at their centre, but the way 'the people' is understood varies widely. Questions of left populism have gained significant traction and engagement in the last decade - and this is a key focus of this article. While recognising the importance of Ernesto Laclau's analysis in On Populist Reason, the authors argue that his work is hindered by an overly formalist account of the political. Stuart Hall's writings on Thatcherism offer a more contextual and situated engagement with particular populist strategies, and have continuing relevance for understanding right-wing populism. Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece offer actually existing experiences of left populism. We discuss three limitations in their strategies: their 'nationed' narratives of the crisis; the relationship between the parties' leadership and grassroots politics; and the nature of their engagement with internationalist political projects. Part of the critical terms series

Volkswille: Reale Substanz oder notwendige Fiktion?

Der Staat ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-396
Author(s):  
Shu-Perng Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Real ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Individual

Angesichts des markanten Aufstiegs des Rechtspopulismus in den vergangenen Jahren drängt sich die Frage immer wieder auf, ob oder inwiefern das Parlament den eigentlichen Volkswillen (noch) vertreten kann, und wie im Zeitalter der Globalisierung und Digitalisierung der eigentliche Volkswille überhaupt festzustellen und effektiv durchzusetzen ist. In dieser Hinsicht steht das Vertrauen in die Fähigkeit des Parlaments, den wahren Volkswillen herauszubilden und zu artikulieren, erneut vor großen Herausforderungen. Durch eine vergleichende Analyse zwischen den Demokratietheorien Böckenfördes und Kelsens zeigt der vorliegende Beitrag, weshalb und inwiefern das weitverbreitete Verständnis des Volkswillens und dessen Rolle in der parlamentarischen Demokratie gerade vor dem heutigen Hintergrund eine kritische Besinnung verdient. Es wird argumentiert, dass gerade in demokratischer Hinsicht nicht die Suche nach dem „wahren Volkswillen“, sondern nach wie vor die Gewährleistung der Menschen- bzw. Grundrechte der Einzelnen und insbesondere der Minderheiten von zentraler Bedeutung sein soll. In view of the spread of right-wing populism in recent years, the question as to how the will of the people is to be ascertained and expressed has attracted much attention in constitutional scholarship. In particular, the issue of whether or to what extent the parliament is (still) capable of representing and demonstrating the will of the people has been repeatedly discussed and debated. Through a comparative analysis of Böckenförde’s und Kelsen’s democratic theories, this article critically examines the problems of the widespread understanding of the will of the people as a real-empirical existence and its significance for the realization of democracy. Accordingly, it points out why and in what sense the reference to the so-called real will of the people would undermine rather than promote democracy. This article concludes by arguing that, precisely for the sake of democracy, what is crucial is not to determine what the “real will of the people” is, but rather to guarantee the freedom of the individual and especially of the minorities.

scholarly journals Is there another people? Populism, radical democracy and immanent critique

2020 ◽  
pp. 019145372091045
Author(s):  
Victor Kempf
Keyword(s):  
Radical Democracy ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Immanent Critique ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Open Question

This article explores the possibility of a notion of left-wing populism that is conceptually opposed to the identitarian logic of embodiment that characterises right-populist interpellations of ‘the people’. In the first part, I will demonstrate, that in Laclau’s constructivist approach, any populist embodiment of the people actually has a partial, subaltern and performative origin. On this basis, it becomes possible to distinguish between a radical-democratic version of the people that is self-reflexively aware of this origin and a regressive and reified one that ideologically betrays and negates its own subaltern tradition of democratic struggle by proclaiming to embody a positive, pre-established substance of ‘rooted’, ‘well-born’ community. In the second part of the article, I will focus on this self-negation as a starting point for an immanent critique of right-wing populism. Such an immanent critique is promising, because it could overcome the shortcomings of decisionism and moralism that limit the contemporary critique of right-wing populism. However, it remains still an open question how to defend and define a negativist truth of political community and subjectivation that is necessary for developing such a left-Hegelian critique of regressive and reified notions of ‘the people’.

scholarly journals ”Danmark er danskernes land”: Højrepopulistisk diskurs i Danmark

Politik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silas L. Marker
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
New Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
People's Party ◽  
The People ◽  
Muslim Immigrants ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Right ◽  
Power Position

This paper examines the phenomenon of right-wing populism in Denmark in the year of 2019 by applying qualitative discourse analysis to a sample of central public texts from the right-wing populist parties New Right and The Danish People’s Party. Both parties utilize populist discourse by constructing a popular bloc (“the people”) stabilized by its constitutive outside: The elite and the Muslim immigrants. However, the discourses of the two parties differ from each other insofar as New Right articulates the strongest antagonism between the people and the elite, while The Danish People’s Party downplays this antagonism, most likely because the party has a central power position in Danish politics. 

Populist Discourse and Desire for Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erzsébet Barát
Keyword(s):  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
The People ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Empty Signifier

This chapter reviews research on populism by describing the role of discourse in articulating a “we” as an empty signifier. The emergence of “gender-ideology” discourse is presented as key to contemporary forms of exclusionary populism, as demonstrated in a case study of Hungary’s recent modification of the national register to prevent transgender individuals from retroactively changing their “sex at birth” status. The chapter argues that the discrediting of gender as an ideology mobilizes not only exclusionary right-wing populism but also feminisms asserting binary distinctions of a biologized sex and gender. While the government defends “us, the Hungarian people” against a “gender” that is not material but pure propaganda, self-identified progressive feminists dismiss trans-politics for focusing on identity instead of political economy. Both groups thus use “gender ideology” to mobilize an exclusionary rhetoric of hate. The chapter proposes that “us, the people” may instead be used to motivate a radical left populism organized around a “feminist people” of flexible inclusivity.

scholarly journals „March for Sozialgeographie“? Rechtspopulismus als Zumutung und die regressive Moderne als Herausforderung der Humangeographie

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Oßenbrügge
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Academic Integrity ◽  
Social Geography ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Neoliberal Globalization ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Alternative Facts ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Populist Movements

Abstract. The paper outlines an approach to right wing populism in recent years not only in critizing the use of so called alternative facts but using the concept of a regressive modernisation as a debate which includes populist movements into a broader social theory and diagnosis of western societies. The evolution of regressive modernisation reveals both, the success of a neoliberal globalization and a rise of marginality and perceived dangers of a downward mobility. These findings are used in order to explain certain transformations of academic fields in general and social geography in particular. It is argued that the success of postmodern geographies may be seen as an overcoming of hegemonic discourses of positivism as well as of marxism, but was and is unable to counteract geographies of recent right wing populism. Even the positions of the „march for science“ which has been a major initiative to fight for academic integrity are seen as not being sufficient to rebuilt an „antipopulist“ social geography. This situation leads to some suggestions and recommendation for further work in this field.

scholarly journals The Concept of Populism in Modern Anglo-Saxon and German Political Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-764
Author(s):  
Dmitry Y. Meshcheryakov
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Reciprocal Influence ◽  
The People ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Will ◽  
Right Wing Populism

The article examines and compares main approaches to defining populism in modern Anglo-Saxon and German political science. The author points out some similarities between two schools: increasing interest of research communities in the USA, United Kingdom and Germany in examining right-wing populism due to the electoral success of right-wing populist parties. Furthermore, among the key features of populism, both schools see the allusion to “the will of the people”, as well as juxtaposition of “the people” against “the elite”. The article emphasizes the existing reciprocal influence of the two research traditions. On the other hand, the author outlines certain differences in the two schools’ approach to populism, such as historical dissimilarities in its interpretation (in the USA the concept used to bear a more “neutral” character, while in German political science, due to the Nazi regime carryover, it was regarded mostly negatively for a long time). Also, German academic works on populism have applied rather than theoretical nature and aim at stopping the expansion of the phenomenon.

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