Anti-establishment and Populist Parties Flashcards
Populism as a broad term
In contemporary politics, populism is becoming a vague and broad term merely used to describe negatively political opponents
Lawrence Goodwin on populism
Lawrence Goodwin defined populism as a positive form of progressive politics for the mobilisation of common people.
Ernesto Laclau on populism
Ernesto Laclau argued that populism links to freedom and liberation.
What is populism?
Populism is a ‘thin-centered’ ideology expresses the view of the people against the corrupt elite. It is a change in the status quo of mainstream politics.
Oppositions of populism
- Elitism i.e. superior individuals
- Pluralism - the idea that politics should represent the ideas and interests of different groups in society and power should be distributed evenly. Populism holds that nothing should constrain the will of the people.
‘The People’ as a core concept of populism
People feel misrepresented and ignored by the government. As a result, they criticise and rebel against the political establishment.
“The common people” links to social status - people are excluded from power.
Criticised for being a vague term.
Populism as a “thin-centred” ideology
Populism uses concepts from other ideologies that run along the same lines.
Laclau argued that its vague nature is exactly what brings different groups together.
‘The Elite’ as a core concept of populism
Describes the economic, cultural, and media elite in society. The elite work against the general will of the people. The economic elite is used to explain the lack of political power held by populists.
Richard Hofstadter on populism
Hofstadter argued that populism is a ‘paranoid style of politics’. Power is not held under elected leaders, but instead a force of illegitimate power. Populist parties cannot sustain power because that would make them the elites, instead they can redefine the elite and sustain populism.
‘The General Will’ as a core concept of populism
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - the general will is the capacity of the people to join together and enforce a common interest. This assumption of a general will can be seen to reject the protection of individual rights.
Carl Schmidt on Populism
Schmidt argues that an ‘absolute’ general will allows for authoritarianism. It is based on political ideals.
Advantages of the ideational approach
The ideational approach describes the thin-centred ideology of populism. It explains why populism is malleable - it attaches to ideologies.
Peter Mair on Populism
Peter Mair argues that mainstream politicians are becoming increasingly populist however the difference is that politicians such as Sanders and Corbyn have thick-centred ideology. They have a socialist agenda; an answer for how they want the world to be. They blame the opposition, not the whole system.
Dani Rodrik on Populism
Economic globalisation is a cause of populism. It has driven wedges between elites and ordinary people.
Populism as a response to migration
The number of migrants, along with the stereotype that comes with them, means that immigration is a major political issue in Europe.
Fitzgerald on populism
Populist parties in a particular country will discourage people from moving there. This could increase hostilities of the existing migrants because they are excluded from society.
Populism in Greece
Far-right groups have not broken through until recently, despite attitudes to immigrants being among the most hostile in Europe. The economic crash (lack of jobs) and the Syrian war that led to an influx of immigrants led to increasing support for populist party i.e. the Golden Dawn Party scored 7% of the vote in the 2015 general election.
The affect of electoral systems on populism
Proportional representation systems allow of new parties to breakthrough (Duverger’s Law) - multi-party systems. However, electoral systems do not vary sufficiently enough to explain how some radical right parties gain success and some do not.
