Populism and the Crisis of Democracy: Volume 2: Politics, Social Movements and Extremism 02

The contributions to this volume Politics, Social Movements and Extremism take serious the fact that populism is a symptom of the crisis of representation that is affecting parliamentary democracy. Right-wing populism skyrocketed to electoral success and is now part of the government in several European countries, but it also shaped the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election. In Southern Europe, left-wing populism transformed the classical two parties systems into ungovernable three fractions parliaments, whereas in Latin America it still presents an instable alternative to liberal democracy. The varying consequences of populist mobilisation so far consist in the maceration of the established borders of political culture, the distortion of legislation concerning migrants and migration, and the emergence of hybrid regimes bordering on and sometimes leaning towards dictatorship. Yet, in order to understand populism, innovative research approaches are required that need to be capable of overcoming stereotypes and conceptual dichotomies which are deeply rooted in the political debate. The chapters of this volume offer such new theoretical strategies for inquiring into the multi-faceted populist phenomenon. The chapters analyse its language, concepts and its relationship to social media in an innovative way, draw the contours of left- and right-wing populism and reconstruct its shifting delimitation to political extremism. Furthermore, they value the most significant aftermath of populist mobilisation on the institutional frame of parliamentary democracy from the limitation of the freedom of press, to the dismantling of the separation of powers, to the erosion of citizenship rights. This volume will be an invaluable reference for students and scholars in the field of political theory, political sociology and European Studies. There is no threat to Western democracies today comparable to the rise of right-wing populism. While it has played an increasing role at least since the 1990s, only the social consequences of the global financial crises in 2008 have given it its break that led to UK's `Brexit' and the election of Donald Trump as US President in 2016, as well as promoting what has been called left populism in countries that were hit the hardest by both the banking crisis and consequential neo-liberal austerity politics in the EU, such as Greece and Portugal. In 2017, the French Front National (FN) attracted many voters in the French Presidential elections; we have seen the radicalization of the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in Germany and the formation of centre-right government in Austria. Further, we have witnessed the consolidation of autocratic regimes, as in the EU member states Poland and Greece. All these manifestations of right-wing populism share a common feature: they attack or even compromise the core elements of democratic societies such as the separation of powers, protection of minorities, or the rule of law. Despite a broad debate on the re-emergence of `populism' in the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century that has brought forth many interesting findings, a lack of sociological reasoning cannot be denied, as sociology itself withdrew from theorising populism decades ago and largely left the field to political sciences and history. In a sense, Populism and the Crisis of Democracy considers itself a contribution to begin filling this lacuna. Written in a direct and clear style, this set of volumes will be an invaluable reference for students and scholars in the field of political theory, political sociology and European Studies. This volume Concepts and Theory offers new and fresh perspectives on the debate on populism. Starting from complaints about the problems of conceptualising populism that in recent years have begun to revolve around themselves, the chapters offer a fundamental critique of the term and concept of populism, theoretically inspired typologies and descriptions of currently dominant concepts, and ways to elaborate on them. With regard to theory, the volume offers approaches that exceed the disciplinary horizon of political science that so far has dominated the debate. As sociological theory so far has been more or less absent in the debate on populism, only few efforts have been made to discuss populism more intensely within different theoretical contexts in order to explain its dynamics and processes. Thus, this volume offers critical views on the debate on populism from the perspectives of political economy and the analysis of critical historical events, the links of analyses of populism with social movement mobilisation, the significance of `superfluous populations' in the rise of populism and an analysis of the exclusionary character of populism from the perspective of the theory of social closure.-- Provided by Publisher The contributions to this volume Politics, Social Movements and Extremism take serious the fact that populism is a symptom of the crisis of representation that is affecting parliamentary democracy. Right-wing populism skyrocketed to electoral success and is now part of the government in several European countries, but it also shaped the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election. In Southern Europe, left-wing populism transformed the classical two parties systems into ungovernable three fractions parliaments, whereas in Latin America it still presents an instable alternative to liberal democracy. The varying consequences of populist mobilisation so far consist in the maceration of the established borders of political culture, the distortion of legislation concerning migrants and migration, and the emergence of hybrid regimes bordering on and sometimes leaning towards dictatorship. Yet, in order to understand populism, innovative research approaches are required that need to be capable of overcoming stereotypes and conceptual dichotomies which are deeply rooted in the political debate. The chapters of this volume offer such new theoretical strategies for inquiringinto the multi-faceted populist phenomenon. The chapters analyse its language,concepts and its relationship to social media in an innovative way, draw the con -tours of left- and right-wing populism and reconstruct its shifting delimitation topolitical extremism. Furthermore, they value the most significant aftermath ofpopulist mobilisation on the institutional frame of parliamentary democracy fromthe limitation of the freedom of press, to the dismantling of the separation ofpowers, to the erosion of citizenship rights. This volume will be an invaluablereference for students and scholars in the field of political theory, politicalsociology and European Studies. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 4 Title Page......Page 8 Copyright Page......Page 9 Table of Contents......Page 10 List of figures and tables......Page 12 Notes on contributors......Page 14 Introduction: Political populism as a symptom of the great transformation of democracy......Page 16 Part I Language, media and the law......Page 24 1 The micro-politics of right-wing populism......Page 26 2 Populism 2.0: Social media and the false allure of ‘unmediated’ representation......Page 45 3 From protecting individual rights to protecting the public: The changing parameters of populist-driven criminal law and penal policy......Page 62 Part II Dimensions of right-wing populism......Page 80 4 Right-wing populism in context: A historical and systematic perspective......Page 82 5 Populism and the radical right in Europe: The paradigmatic case of the French Front National......Page 100 6 Ambivalences of cosmopolitanisms, elites and far-right populisms in twenty-first century Europe......Page 116 Part III Regimes, party systems, and political subjects......Page 134 7 The role of populist parties and movements in transitions to hybrid regimes in Europe......Page 136 8 Populism as a challenge for party systems: A comparison between Italy and Spain......Page 152 9 ‘Citizens’ or ‘people’? Competing meanings of the political subject in Latin America......Page 167 Index......Page 185