Can realism save us from populism? Rousseau in the digital age
| Author | Ilaria Cozzaglio |
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885120906928 |
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article EJPT
Can realism save us from
populism? Rousseau in
the digital age
Ilaria Cozzaglio
Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract
In 2016, the Five Stars Movement (5SM), one of the parties currently in power in Italy,
launched the ‘Rousseau platform’. This is a platform meant to enhance direct democ-
racy, transparency and the real participation of the people in the making of laws, policies
and political proposals. Although ennobled with the name of Rousseau, the 5SM’s
redemptive promise has been strongly criticised in the public sphere for being irre-
sponsible and ideological. Political realism, I will argue, can perform both a diagnostic
and a corrective task, by providing some tools to unveil populist distortions and by
offering more solid grounds for political opponents’ critique. Three aspects of realism,
in particular, will be pointed out as remedies against populist drifts. First, anti-moralism,
complemented by anti-utopianism and contextualism, criticises the populists’ moralistic
picture of politics, its anti-pluralistic attitude and its rejection of the role of experts in
politics. Second, the Weberian ethic of responsibility offers standards to assess politi-
cians’ actions, instead of embracing the populist aversion towards any professional
politician; besides, it contrasts the populist image of politics as a derogatory activity.
Finally, realism as ideology critique unveils the distorting narratives underlying populist
propaganda and fostering uncritical support.
Keywords
Anti-moralism, Five Stars Movement, ideology critique, political realism, political
responsibility, populism
Corresponding author:
Ilaria Cozzaglio, Research Associate, Research Centre “Normative Orders” of Goethe University, Goethe
University Frankfurt, Max-Horkheimer-Straße 2, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Email: ilaria.cozzaglio@normativeorders.net
European Journal of Political Theory
!The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1474885120906928
journals.sagepub.com/home/ept
2022, Vol. 21(2) 276–298
Introduction
In 2016, the Five Stars Movement (5SM), one of the parties currently in power in
Italy, launched the Rousseau platform (MoVimento 5 Stelle, n.d.a). Thanks to this
platform, they advertised, people could ‘participate in change’ and ‘make their
voices heard’. More practically, among other things, users can propose new
laws, vote for candidates to form electoral lists and suggest how the movement
should position itself with regard to certain issues.
The Rousseau platform, according to its proposers, is meant to enhance direct
democracy, transparency and the people’s participation through the tools offered
by digitalisation. Technology is used to finally implement Rousseau’s thought and
make possible what was previously considered either unrealisable or undesirable:
the real participation of all the people in the making of laws, policies and political
proposals.
Clearly, the Rousseau platform comes along with a broader political plan spon-
sored by the 5SM. In brief, ‘real people’ should replace professional politicians and
govern through a direct democracy. Besides, (the new) politicians should restore
morality, transparency and accountability to politics and act for the people rather
than in their personal interests. Politicians should mirror the authenticity of the
people and defend them from enemies both inside (typically the elites) and outside
(typically the European Union
1
).
2
Although ennobled with the name of Rousseau, the 5SM’s redemptive promise
has been labelled as populist by many voices in the public sphere. After all, the
5SM does present many features that scholars have commonly detected in populist
movements.
3
In particular, its representatives have been strongly attacked for
being irresponsible and ideological and for promising unrealisable solutions.
Critics have pointed to their lack of consideration for political facts and lack of
responsibility for political actions and to their promotion of delusive ideological
narratives. Political realism, I argue, can help better ground and appreciate
this criticism.
It might be surprising to point to political realism as a remedy for populist
drifts. After all, some of the realist tenets show similarities with populist claims.
Realists claim that standards for legitimacy need to originate from people’s values
and beliefs – that is, they need to be bottom-up standards (Horton, 2012; Horton,
2010a; Rossi and Sleat, 2014; Sleat, 2014; Williams, 2007). In addition, some may
object, standard democratic theory is well equipped to dismantle many aspects of
populist promises, especially the ones related to the implementation and desirabil-
ity of direct democracy. Nonetheless, three aspects of realism can counteract pop-
ulist drifts: anti-moralism, the ethic of responsibility, and ideology critique. Before
moving on, let me clarify my tasks.
The introduction of normative tools from the realist literature has a twofold
objective. First, it aims at diagnosing distorting ideological drifts and at more
solidly grounding the criticisms usually raised in the public sphere against populist
movements. In fact, attacks in terms of irresponsibility and utopianism have often
277Cozzaglio
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