Populism and Civil Society : The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy

Populism and Civil Society: The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy is a theoretical work that draws on extensive secondary literature as well as comparative analysis of cases. The aim is to assess the significance of what is now a global phenomenon—the populist challenge to constitutional democracy. After defining populism using the methods of immanent criticism and ideal typic construction, the book proceeds to examine the challenge in terms of its four main organizational forms: movement mobilization, political party, government, and regime. It considers the important questions: “why populism?” and “why now?” Without presupposing the authoritarian logic of the phenomenon in the definition, the book seeks to demonstrate this logic through the reconstruction of the main elements used by advocates to identify populism. It shows that authoritarian logic is not fully realized in every empirical form of populism and considers why this is so for many movement and party forms, and even populists “in” government vs. populism as “the” government. We identify the historical examples of the latter as “hybrid” regimes blending authoritarian elements and residual democratic forms. The book then proceeds to consider the uneasy relationship of populism to constitutionalism and presents populism as a form of abusive or instrumental “constitutionalism” often relying on the alleged permanence of the quasi-revolutionary constituent power. It concludes by outlining a non- and anti-populist project of democratization and social justice, distinguishing between the “popular” and the “populist,” and outlining a program based on the plurality of democracies and the rescue of some of left populism’s “host ideologies.” Cover Half Title Populism and Civil Society Copyright Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Defining Populism What Is Populism? How to Define the Phenomenon 2 What Is Populism: Immanent Critique 4 What Is Populism: Construction of the Ideal Type 7 Different Populisms: Mobilization, Party, Government, and Regime 14 The Plan of the Book 17 1. Populism: Why and Why Now? The Long Term: The Fundamental Contradiction of Modern Democracy 29 The Middle Term: Deficits of Representation 32 The Short Term: Bait and Switch, Populist Supply, and Media Strategies 39 The Turn to Mobilization 46 Populism and the Media 48 2. Populism as Mobilization and as a Party Social Movements: Their Logic and Limits 56 Political Parties and Their Transformation 62 Populist Mobilization, Its Dynamics and Tensions: The Cases 68 Mobilization by or with Parties 70 Mobilization by a Government or a Chief Executive 73 Mobilization from below in Civil Society 74 Movement Parties and the Movementization of Parties 85 Populist Logic: Implications for Populist Parties and Democratic Party Systems 89 The Pars Pro Toto Logic and the Relapse into Factionalism 90 The Friend– Enemy Political Logic and Affective Polarization 93 The Anti- Establishment Stance and the Permanent Movementization of Anti- Party Parties 100 Conclusion 102 3. Populist Governments and Their Logic Democracy Revisited 110 Populism in Government: Democracy Enhancing or Eviscerating? 122 Populist Government I: Qualified Authoritarianism? 130 The Threshold Issue 134 Populist Government II: Illiberal Democracy? 138 The Concept of Illiberal Democracy 139 The Populist Hybrid Regime 145 4. Populism and Constitutionalism Introduction 153 Contesting the Balance between Popular Sovereignty and Constitutionalism 156 Version 1. Popular Constitutionalism and Populism in Opposition 156 Version 2: Movements and Governments in Populist Constitutional Replacement 160 Version 3: Constitution Replacement Dominated by Executives: Peru and Hungary 165 Version 4: Constitutional Politics via Amendment and Court Packing: Turkey and Poland 169 The Version after: Populist Treatment of New Constitutions 173 Is There a Populist Constitutionalism? 175 Inherited Constitutionalism 178 A New Balance? 178 Constitutional Instrumentalism? 179 Abusive Constitutionalism 179 Political Constitutionalism as Norm? 181 Constitutionalism of the Constituent Power 183 5. Alternatives to Populism Popular, Plural, and Constitutionalist Democracy vs. Populist Democratic Monism 186 The Popular vs. the Populist 186 Popular Sovereignty 187 From “Thin Ideology” to the Norms of Democracy 190 Toward a New Political Narrative 191 The Constituent Power, Democratic Constitutionalism, and Consensus Democracy 195 Rescuing (Some of) the Host Ideologies 201 The Welfare Deficit and the Renewal of Social Democracy 202 The Cultural Gap: Status Deficits and the Renewal of Social Solidarity 209 Civil Society and a Dualistic Strategy 214 Notes Bibliography Index From the co-authors of the classic Civil Society and Political Theory, Populism and Civil Society offers an empirically informed, systematic theoretical analysis of the political challenges posed by contemporary populism to constitutional democracies.Populism and Civil Society provides a political assessment and critical theory of the significance of what is now a global phenomenon: the growing populist challenge to constitutional democracy. Andrew Arato and Jean L. Cohen examine the challenge it presents in terms of its four main organizational forms: socio-political movement, political party, government, and regime. They focus in particular on the tense relationship of populism to democracy and of populism to constitutionalism. Without presupposing the authoritarian logic of the phenomenon in the definition, the book demonstrates it through the reconstruction of the main elements used by advocates to identify populism. To be sure, the authoritarian logic of populism is not realized in every instance of it, and the book analyses why this is so. Across modern history, many populist governments have in fact been "hybrid" regimes, blending authoritarian elements and residual democratic forms. Populism on its own, however, is a form of abusive or instrumental "constitutionalism" that typically relies on the alleged permanence of the quasi-revolutionary constituent power. The book concludes by outlining a non- and anti-populist project of democratization and social justice, distinguishing between the "popular" and the "populist" and offering a program that is nourished by the plurality of democracies and which rescues some of left populism's more benevolent "host ideologies." ""Populism and Civil Society: The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy" is a theoretical work, that draws on extensive secondary literature as well comparative analysis of cases. The aim is to assess the significance of what is now a global phenomenon--the populist challenge to constitutional democracy. After defining populism using the methods of immanent criticism and ideal typic construction, it proceeds to examine the challenge in terms of its four main organizational forms: movement mobilization, political party, government and regime. It considers the important questions "why populism" and "why now". Without presupposing the authoritarian logic of the phenomenon in the definition, the book seeks to demonstrate it through the reconstruction of the main elements used by advocates to identify populism. It shows that the authoritarian logic is not realized in every empirical form of populism, and considers why this is so for many movement and party forms, and even populists "in" government vs. populism as 'the" government. The historical examples of the latter we identify as "hybrid" regimes blending authoritarian elements and residual democratic forms. The book then proceeds to consider the uneasy relationship of populism to constitutionalism. It presents populism as a form of abusive or instrumental "constitutionalism" often relying on the alleged permanence of the quasi-revolutionary constituent power. It concludes by outlining a non- and anti-populist project of democratization and social justice, distinguishing between the "popular" and the "populist" and outlining a program based on the plurality of democracies and the rescue of some of left populism's "host ideologies""-- Provided by publisher ""Populism and Civil Society: The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy" is a theoretical work, that draws on extensive secondary literature as well comparative analysis of cases. The aim is to assess the significance of what is now a global phenomenon--the populist challenge to constitutional democracy. After defining populism using the methods of immanent criticism and ideal typic construction, it proceeds to examine the challenge in terms of its four main organizational forms: movement mobilization, political party, government and regime. It considers the important questions "why populism" and "why now". Without presupposing the authoritarian logic of the phenomenon in the definition, the book seeks to demonstrate it through the reconstruction of the main elements used by advocates to identify populism. It shows that the authoritarian logic is not realized in every empirical form of populism, and considers why this is so for many movement and party forms, and even populists "in" government vs. populism as 'the" government. The historical examples of the latter we identify as "hybrid" regimes blending authoritarian elements and residual democratic forms. The book then proceeds to consider the uneasy relationship of populism to constitutionalism. It presents populism as a form of abusive or instrumental "constitutionalism" often relying on the alleged permanence of the quasi-revolutionary constituent power. It concludes by outlining a non- and anti-populist project of democratization and social justice, distinguishing between the "popular" and the "populist" and outlining a program based on the plurality of democracies and the rescue of some of left populism's "host ideologies""-- Résumé de l'éditeur From the co-authors of the classic Civil Society and Political Theory , Populism and Civil Society offers an empirically informed, systematic theoretical analysis of the political challenges posed by contemporary populism to constitutional democracies. Populism and Civil Society provides a political assessment and critical theory of the significance of what is now a global phenomenon: the growing populist challenge to constitutional democracy. Andrew Arato and Jean L. Cohen examine the challenge it presents in terms of its four main organizational forms: socio-political movement, political party, government, and regime. They focus in particular on the tense relationship of populism to democracy and of populism to constitutionalism. Without presupposing the authoritarian logic of the phenomenon in the definition, the book demonstrates it through the reconstruction of the main elements used by advocates to identify populism. To be sure, the authoritarian logic of populism is not realized in every instance of it, and the book analyses why this is so. Across modern history, many populist governments have in fact been "hybrid" regimes, blending authoritarian elements and residual democratic forms. Populism on its own, however, is a form of abusive or instrumental "constitutionalism" that typically relies on the alleged permanence of the quasi-revolutionary constituent power. The book concludes by outlining a non- and anti-populist project of democratization and social justice, distinguishing between the "popular" and the "populist" and offering a program that is nourished by the plurality of democracies and which rescues some of left populism's more benevolent "host ideologies." Populism and Civil Society is the most serious systematic empirically informed analysis of the threat of contemporary populism to constitutional democracy available today. Cohen and Arato look into the causes, logic, dynamic and consequences of the contemporary populist surge and try to offer alternatives to it that are not tantamount to returning to the status quo ante, but instead takes seriously the critiques populists lay at the door of contemporary oligarchic democracies