Liquid parties, dense populism

Abstract

Before proceeding, I would like to clarify briefly two interpretative premises, one methodological and one normative, which sustain my argument. Understanding the transformations facing constitutional democratic societies is a demanding task. These transformations, whose multiple causes are socio-economic not merely political, reflect on the one hand in the decline of mass party form of organization and on the other in the success of populism as not simply a movement of contestation but as a ruling power. In this article, I will suggest that the successes of populism are connected to the decline of organized parties, the pillar of constitutional democracy as it emerged after 1945. It is impossible to predict whether populism will succeed in becoming the new form of democracy. It is, however, certain that contemporary representative governments are facing astonishing mutations and the decline of the party form of representative unification of claims and ideas is one of them. My argument relies upon a phenomenology of populism as a movement that is strong in proportion as organized parties are weak, which actually capitalizes on a revolt against intermediary bodies such as parties. 1

The Failure of Cosmopolitanism? National Identity, Citizenship and Migration in an Age of Populism

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Beyond the Wave, the Sea: Re-assessing the Impact of the Economic Crisis on Southern Europe's Populist Upsurge

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“…It seems therefore important to consider also how the audience can set some constraints on what leaders chain together and how it can respond to leaders in their attempts to create new imaginaries. POPULIST APPEALS AND POPULIST CONVERSATIONS Nadia Urbinati (2019aUrbinati ( , 2019bUrbinati ( , 2019c stresses the special relationships between leaders and audiences in contemporary populism. Contemporary populism, she writes, promotes a direct relation between the leader and 'the people,' a form of 'direct representation' that exploits structural weaknesses of organised parties.…”