Description
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 con -
tours 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.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Political Populism as A Symptom of the Great Transformation of Democracy
Gregor Fitzi
Part I: Language, Media and the Law
1. The Micro-Politics of Right-Wing Populism
Ruth Wodak
2. Populism 2.0, Social Media and the False Allure of ‘Unmediated’ Representation
Benjamin Moffitt
3. From Protecting Individual Rights to Protecting the Public: The Changing Parameters of Populist-Driven Criminal Law and Penal Policy
John Pratt and Michelle Miao
Part II: Dimensions of Right-Wing Populism
4. Right-Wing Populism in Context: A Historical and Systematic Perspective
Dieter Rucht
5. Populism and the Radical Right in Europe: The Paradigmatic Case of the French Front National
Dietmar Loch
6. Ambivalences of Cosmopolitanisms, Elites and Far-Right Populisms in Twenty-First Century Europe
Ulrike M. Vieten
Part III: Regimes, Party Systems, and Political Subjects
7. The Role of Populist Parties and Movements in Transitions to Hybrid Regimes in Europe
Klaus Bachmann
8. Populism as a Challenge for Party Systems: A Comparison Between Italy and Spain
Roberto Biorcio
9. ‘Citizens’ or ‘People’? Competing Meanings of the Political Subject in Latin America
Jenny Pearce
