scholarly journals Populism: Utility of its Approaches and the Prospects of the Phenomenon's Resurgence in America

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1(S)) ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Daniel Abankwa
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Multiple Contexts ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Relative Utility

Populism in the 21st century became prominent in scholarly circles following Brexit and the 2016 electoral victory of Donald Trump. As democracy and globalization enthusiasts least anticipated these two monumental events in modern history, much emphasis came to be placed on the nature of populism and what conditions led to its manifestation in contemporary times. Working within this background, this study aims to review the ideational, political strategy and discursive approaches to the populism phenomenon and unpack the relative utility of each approach. I offer a thoughtful perspective that while the ideational approach’s “thin-centered” strand has the tendency to blur the boundaries of populism and lead scholars to accept “anything” as populism; it nevertheless enables us to comprehensively capture populism usage in multiple contexts. Further, I advance the notion that the 2020 electoral defeat of Donald Trump should not be misconstrued as the end or weakening of right-wing populism; the present state of American politics makes it ripe for populism resurgence.

Right-wing populism and market-fundamentalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter O. Ötsch ◽  
Stephan Pühringer
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Us ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Economic Thinking

Abstract The article compares market fundamentalism and right-wing populism on the basis of its core patterns of thinking and reasoning. Based on an analysis of the work of important founders of market fundamental economic thinking and the arguments brought forward by leading right-wing populist we find many similarities of these two concepts in their "inner images". Thus, we develop a scheme of the similar dual social worlds of right-wing-populism and market fundamentalism and offer some recent examples of market fundamentalism and right-wing populism mutually reinforcing each other or serving as a gateway for each other. We then apply our scheme for the analysis of the recent political developments and its ideological roots in the US under Donald Trump. The main conclusion of this article is that market fundamentalism and right-wing populism together must be seen as two mutually reinforcing threats to democracy in the 21st century.

Development Channelization, Partisanship, and Populism: Possibilities for Rural Renewal in the Death Throes of Coal

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142110246
Author(s):  
Adam Mayer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Energy System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Rural Economies ◽  
Right Wing Populism

In the last few decades, the United States has experienced several related and significant societal trends—the transition of the energy system away from coal, the intensification of partisan polarization, and the rise of a populist right-wing political ideology, perhaps best exemplified by the election of Donald Trump. We build Gramling and Freudenberg’s little-explored concept of “development channelization” to argue that nostalgic right-wing populism, grievances directed toward the federal government, and partisanship converge to potentially thwart efforts to transition and diversify rural economies. Populist nostalgia and blame are associated with support for expanding the collapsing coal industry but do not predict support for other types of development. There are patterns of partisan polarization in support for extractive industries and wind power, but many development options appear to be relatively nonpartisan. We discuss these findings in terms of populism, nostalgia, partisan polarization, and the potential for rural renewal in the United States.

scholarly journals The Misogyny of Authoritarians in Contemporary Democracies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitasha Kaul
Keyword(s):  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Politics Of Identity ◽  
Global Projects ◽  
Global North ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Argument Proceeds

Abstract Contemporary democracy in multiple countries has been under assault from what has been variously called right-wing populism, authoritarian populism, cultural majoritarianism, new nativism, new nationalism, quasi-fascism, and neo-fascism. While the authoritarian behaviors of several electorally legitimated leaders in these countries have been in focus, their misogyny is seen as merely an incidental part of their personality. This article highlights the centrality of misogyny in legitimating the political goals and regimes of a set of leaders in contemporary democracies—Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte, and Erdogan (all but Trump are still in power)—in countries from across Global North/South, non-West/West, with mixed populations and different majority religions. The argument proceeds as follows. First, I clarify the conceptualization of misogyny and explain why it matters. Second, I demonstrate the substantive misogyny of political leaders who are/have been heads of hegemonic right-wing political projects in five contemporary democracies (Trumpism, Modification, Bolsonarismo, Dutertismo, and Erdoganism). Third, I put forward three systematic ways in which misogyny works as an effective political strategy for these projects, by enabling a certain politics of identity to demonize opponents as feminine/inferior/anti-national, scavenging upon progressive ideas (rather than rejecting them) and distorting them, and sustaining and defending a militarized masculinist approach to policy and delegitimizing challenges to it. This article, thus, contributes to the literature on how masculinity, misogyny, and gender norms more broadly intersect with political legitimacy, by arguing for understanding the analytic centrality of misogyny to the exercise of political power in multiple global projects.

scholarly journals PiS vs LGBT: The “Othering” of the LGBT Movement as an Element of Populist Radical Right Party Discourse in Poland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Yermakova
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Lgbt Movement

PiS vs LGBT: The “Othering” of the LGBT Movement as an Element of Populist Radical Right Party Discourse in PolandThe article explores how the LGBT movement is “othered” to fit into right-wing populist discourse and is thereby utilised as an element of a political strategy by right-wing populist actors. I focus on Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość), a Polish populist radical right party (continuously in power since 2015), whose anti-LGBT rhetoric increased anew ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election. This study presents the results of a critical discourse analysis (conducted using Ruth Wodak and Martin Reisigl’s analytical framework) of selected texts and visuals from the party’s official website and from Twitter accounts of its prominent members. I analysed how the party representatives “other” LGBT Poles using discursive means, and how they frame homophobia within their broader populist discourse and instrumentalise it for political gains. I compare my findings to the findings from an analysis of Law and Justice’s anti-migration discourse ahead of the 2015 parliamentary election. The study is conducted within the framework of a larger study on “othering” as part of contemporary right-wing populism in Central and Eastern Europe. PiS vs LGBT. Kształtowanie obrazu „Innego” w przypadku ruchu LGBT jako element dyskursu populistycznej radykalnej partii prawicowej w PolsceArtykuł analizuje, w jaki sposób ruch LGBT jest przedstawiany jako „Inny” w celu dopasowania go do prawicowego populistycznego dyskursu, a tym samym jak jest wykorzystywany jako element strategii politycznej przez prawicowych populistycznych aktorów. Koncentruję się na Prawie i Sprawiedliwości, polskiej populistycznej partii radykalnej prawicy (u władzy nieprzerwanie od 2015 roku), której retoryka anty-LGBT nasiliła się na nowo przed wyborami do Parlamentu Europejskiego w 2019 roku. Przeprowadzając krytyczną analizę dyskursu (w oparciu o ramy analityczne Ruth Wodak i Martina Reisigla) wybranych tekstów i materiałów wizualnych z oficjalnej strony internetowej partii oraz kont jej czołowych członków na Twitterze, przeanalizowałam, jakimi środkami dyskursywnymi przedstawiciele partii kształtują obraz Polaków LGBT jako „Innych”, jak umieszczają homofobię w ramach szerszego populistycznego dyskursu i jak instrumentalizują ją dla uzyskania politycznych korzyści. Porównuję wyniki moich badań z wynikami analizy antymigracyjnego dyskursu Prawa i Sprawiedliwości przed wyborami parlamentarnymi w 2015 roku. Prace są prowadzone w ramach szerszego projektu na temat „inności” w ramach współczesnego prawicowego populizmu w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej. 

scholarly journals Right-wing populism in Europe & USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak ◽  
Michał Krzyżanowski
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
The State ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Right Wing Populism

Abstract In recent years and months, new information about the rise of right-wing populist parties (RWPs) in Europe and the USA has dominated the news and caused an election scare among mainstream institutions and politicians. The unpredictable successes of populists (e.g. Donald Trump in the USA in 2016) have by now transformed anxieties into legitimate apprehension and fear. This Special Issue addresses the recent sudden upsurge of right-wing populism. It responds to many recent challenges and a variety of 'discursive shifts' and wider dynamics of media and public discourses that have taken place as a result of the upswing of right-wing populism (RWP) across Europe and beyond. We examine not only the nature or the state-of-the-art of contemporary RWP but also point to its ontology within and beyond the field of politics and argue that the rise and success of RWP is certainly not a recent or a momentary phenomenon.

Defining Populism and Fascism Relationally

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Paul James ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moving Parts

What is the relationship between right-wing populism and contemporary fascism? How has fascism changed since the 1920s? And how do the answers to these questions concern a global shift that can be called the Great Unsettling—including a postmodern fracturing of prior modern ‘certainties’ about the nature of subjectivity, political practice and meaning, deconstructing the consequences of ‘truth’? This essay seeks to respond to these questions by first going back to foundational issues of defnition and elaborating the meaning of populism and fascism in relation to their structural ‘moving parts’. Using this alternative scaffolding, the essay argues that right-wing populism and an orientation to postmodern fascism represented by Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro have converged. The context of this convergence is a globalizing shift that now challenges democratic politics.

scholarly journals The Prospects of Radical Change Today

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 476-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slavoj Žižek
Keyword(s):  
Radical Change ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Marine Le Pen ◽  
Political Problem ◽  
Inert Mass ◽  
Right Wing Populism

In this contribution, Slavoj Žižek takes the occasion of Marx’s bicentenary for reflecting on the prospects of radical change today. First, it is shown that under Stalinism, Lenin’s works were quoted out of context in an arbitrary way in order to legitimise arbitrary political measures. Marxism thereby became an ideology that justified brutal subjective interventions. Second, this contribution poses the question of the revolutionary subject and democracy today. It stresses the role of both contingency and strategy in revolutions. In political assemblages taking place on public squares, the inert mass of ordinary people is transubstantiated into a politically engaged united force. The basic political problem today is how to best reconfigure democracy. Third, this contribution analyses the “interesting times” we live in. These are times that feature multiple crises, right-wing populism à la Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen, the lower classes’ opposition to immigration, and the refugee crisis. Questions about human rights and their violation and about radical change need to be asked in this context.

scholarly journals Krisis Demokrasi dan Tirani Meritokrasi Menurut Michael Sandel

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Otto Gusti Madung
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Michael Sandel

<p><em>This article aims to introduce the basic thesis of Michael Sandel as described in the book the Tyranny of Merit about the link between the contemporary crisis of democracy and meritocracy. The crisis of democracy today is shown through the increasing wave of right-wing populism in some democratic countries in Europe and the USA. According to Michael Sandel, the crisis of democracy is caused by the policy of meritocracy launched by the liberal democracy that has marginalized the groups of the middle class and working class. Furthermore, the article argues that populist leaders such as Donald Trump succeed in capitalizing on the grievances and frustration of social groups and expressing them as a political agenda. Based on the communitarianism of Michael Sandel, this article offers a solution to strengthen the role of social solidarity and community to cope with individualism and the crisis of liberal democracy. </em></p><p><strong>Key words</strong>:<em> Crisis of democracy, meritocracy, liberalism, communitaranism, Michael Sandel.</em></p>

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