Populism, Anti-Populism and Democracy
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905818796577 |
| Author | Yannis Stavrakakis |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
SEPTEMBER 2018 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 33
Populism is clearly on the political
agenda. The Italian and Brexit
referendums and, in a more
pronounced way, the victory of
Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential
election, as well as that of Victor Orban’s
Fidesz in the recent Hungarian elections,
constitute the most recent examples in a
long chain that have elevated ‘populism’
to the status of one of the most hotly
debated topics in contemporary politics.
Nevertheless, both public debates and
academic accounts often reproduce certain
stereotypes that obscure what is at stake
in populist politics internationally. How
can we make sense of the ambiguous
trajectory of the concept and the often
antithetical variety of populist phenomena?
The Populism Specialist Group of the PSA
has already organised numerous events
in which many of these ambiguities have
been highlighted and debated. Drawing on
these discussions and on the contemporary
orientations of populism research more
Populism, Anti-Populism
and Democracy
Populism has lately emerged as a key concept in global politics. But what
exactly is populism? And is it inherently problematic and dangerous?
Yannis Stavrakakis looks at the relationship between populism and
crisis, and asks whether populism really is anti-democratic.
generally, I will trace out some provisional
answers to central questions about
populism troubling researchers and citizens
alike.
What is populism?
Populism was first used to designate
an alliance between farmers and
workers suffering from very aggressive
modernisation in the US during the 1890s.
The American People’s Party was founded
to protect these impoverished groups
and to further egalitarian demands that
were not adequately represented by the
Democratic and Republican parties. By
most accounts a progressive force, the
American Populists were short-lived, but
left a lasting legacy in American politics,
© Press Association
PI September 2018.indd 33 27/07/2018 15:13
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