Benjamin Moffitt

The Global Rise of Populism (eBook, ePUB)

Performance, Political Style, and Representation

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Once seen as a fringe phenomenon, populism is back. While some politicians and media outlets present it as dangerous to the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, others hail it as the fix for broken democracies. Not surprisingly, questions about populism abound. Does it really threaten democracy? Why the sudden rise in populism? And what are we talking about when we talk about "populism"?

The Global Rise of Populism argues for the need to rethink this concept. While still based on the classic divide between "the people" and "the elite," populism's reliance on new media technologies, its shifting relationship to political representation, and its increasing ubiquity have seen it transform in nuanced ways that demand explaining. Benjamin Moffitt contends that populism is not one entity, but a political style that is performed, embodied, and enacted across different political and cultural contexts. This new understanding makes sense of populism in a time when media pervades political life, a sense of crisis prevails, and populism has gone truly global.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 240
• Erscheinungstermin: 31. Mai 2016
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780804799331
• Artikelnr.: 48420437

Autorenporträt

Benjamin Moffitt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University, Sweden.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
1Introduction: The Global Rise of Populism
chapter abstract
This introductory chapter sets the scene by outlining the rise of populism
across the globe over the past two decades, and introducing the key
arguments, themes and structure of the book. The chapter makes the case
that we need to rethink populism in an age of media saturation,
communicative abundance and a wide perception of global crisis. It does
this by focusing on populism's position in a shifting media landscape;
populism's genuinely global dimension - which moves beyond the Americas and
Europe to also take in the Asia-Pacific and Africa; and arguing that
populism is not an ideology, strategy, discourse or political logic, but
rather a distinct political style comprised of 1) appeal to 'the people'
versus 'the elite', 2) 'bad manners', and 3) crisis, breakdown or threat.
2The Problems with Populism
chapter abstract
This chapter traces the historical development of the term 'populism',
tracing its etymological roots from the US Populist Party of the late
nineteenth century through populism's conceptual 'journeys' across the
twentieth century, before providing a critical overview of contemporary
debates about how to define it. It identifies the four central approaches
to populism in the current literature - populism as ideology, strategy,
discourse and political logic - and outlines the key authors, central
arguments and key features of each approach. In doing so, it balances the
strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, overall showing that while
the features of populism that each approach identifies may be valid - for
example, nearly all agree on the centrality of 'the people' versus 'the
elite' or some Other - there are problems with the social science
categories they use to describe the phenomenon.
3Understanding Contemporary Populism: Populism as a Political Style
chapter abstract
This chapter develops the concept of political style as a new way of
thinking about populism. Synthesising work on the concept in the fields of
rhetoric, political philosophy and political sociology, it defines
political style as the repertoires of embodied, symbolically mediated
performance made to audiences that are used to create and navigate the
fields of power that comprise the political, stretching from the domain of
government through to everyday life. It then uses this concept to
understand populism. This is done inductively, by examining the cases of 28
populist leaders from around the world, and determining what links them in
terms of political style. The three key features of populism thought of in
this way are: appeal to 'the people' versus 'the elite'; 'bad manners'; and
crisis, breakdown or threat. The chapter then sets out the positive
ramifications of using this new conception of populism.
4The Performer: Populism & the Leader
chapter abstract
This chapter addresses the specific role of the populist leader as the key
'performer' of contemporary populism. It considers the centrality of
leaders within populism, arguing that they should be focused upon above and
beyond parties and movements when studying the phenomenon. It then examines
how these leaders must negotiate between appearing as both of 'the people'
as well as above 'the people' at the same time, balancing performances of
ordinariness with extraordinariness. In terms of ordinariness, it looks at
populist leaders' 'bad manners' and efforts to distance themselves from
'mainstream' political leaders, focusing on how they flaunt expectations of
how politicians are 'supposed' to act. In terms of extraordinariness, it
shows how populist leaders present themselves as the embodiment of 'the
people', often through performances of strength, health and virility, and
how this links with classic notions of the body politic.
5The Stage I: Populism & the Media
chapter abstract
This chapter addresses the media as one of the key 'stages' upon which
contemporary populism plays out upon. It seeks to answer the following
questions: what is the relationship between the media and populism? How do
populist actors use media, and how do media cover them? And what have
changes in the media landscape, particularly the emergence of new media,
meant for populism? In doing so, the chapter examines the links between
contemporary populism and the mediatisation of politics, whereby politics
is increasingly reshaped and changed as the influence of the media grows.
It presents a case for understanding populist actors' nuanced adaption of
new media technologies and strategies as a central factor in the spread of
the phenomenon, while also reflecting on the role of media control and
celebrity within contemporary populism. It finally addresses what the shift
from old media to new media has meant for contemporary populism.
6The Audience: Populism & 'The People'
chapter abstract
This chapter turns to populism's central 'audience' - 'the people' - and
investigates the way that populist actors use mediated communication to
construct, portray and render-present 'the people' in contemporary
populism. It seeks to answer a number of important questions: what
processes are involved in speaking for 'the people'? Who are populist
performances actually aimed towards? And why do some characterisations of
'the people' gain traction, while others fail? Challenging claims that
populism is a 'direct' or 'unmediated' phenomenon, it introduces the
concept of mediation in order to better understand these processes. It does
this by considering the role of images and media spectacles in presenting
'the people' in contemporary populism; outlining the differences between
populist audiences and constituencies when speaking for 'the people'; and
explaining how media are never just neutral 'loudspeakers' for populist
performances, but actually active participants, often presenting themselves
as proxies for 'the people'.
7The Stage II: Populism & Crisis
chapter abstract
While the received wisdom in the literature on populism is that crisis is a
trigger for populism, this chapter offers a new perspective, arguing that
we should also consider how populism attempts to act as a trigger for
crisis. This is because crisis is never just a neutral or objective
phenomenon, but must be performed and mediated by certain actors -
something populists tend to do well. Conceptualising crisis as the
'spectacularisation of failure', the chapter shows how populists use crisis
to pit 'the people' against a dangerous Other, radically simplify the
terrain of political debate; and advocate strong leadership and quick
political action. In making this argument, the chapter suggests that we
should move from a conception of crisis as something that is purely
external to populism, to one that acknowledges the performance of crisis as
an internal feature of populism as conceptualised as a political style.
8Populism & Democracy
chapter abstract
This chapter tackles one of the most controversial debates when it comes to
populism: what is populism's relationship to democracy? Arguing that
populism itself tells us very little about the substantive democratic
'content' of any political project, the chapter undoes the strict binary
between populism and democracy that is often invoked in the literature by
instead examining both the democratic and anti-democratic tendencies within
populism as conceptualised as a political style. In doing so, it shows that
these tendencies can operate concurrently, with populists flaunting their
democratic tendencies at the same time as undoing democratic guarantees.
Overall, it demonstrates that questions about populism's relationship to
democracy should not always be taken at face value, as they often conceal
larger questions about what constitutes 'correct' or 'legitimate' forms of
political practice.
9Conclusion: The Future of Populism
chapter abstract
This chapter draws together the arguments made within this book about
populism as a political style and discusses the implications for our
understanding of the relationship between contemporary populism, media,
crisis and democracy. It shows that contemporary populism should be
conceptualised as a distinct political style; that populism cannot be
understood without considering the role of media; that crises do not just
trigger populism, but that populism attempts to trigger crises; and that
populism is a global phenomenon. It also identifies future avenues of
research that the book has opened up. It closes by considering the future
of populism across the globe - specifically arguing that populism is here
to stay as a permanent feature of contemporary democratic politics - and
why we need to continue to pay attention to populism's changing shape.