Populism, anti-populism and crisis

Abstract

This article focuses on two issues involved in the formation and political trajectory of populist representations within political antagonism. First, it explores the role of crisis in the articulation of populist discourse. This problematic is far from new within theories of populism but has recently taken a new turn. We thus purport to reconsider the way populism and crisis are related, mapping the different modalities this relation can take and advancing further their theorization from the point of view of a discursive theory of the political, drawing primarily on the Essex School perspective initially developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Second, this will involve focusing on the antagonistic language games developed around populist representations, something that has not attracted equal attention. Highlighting the need to study anti-populism together with populism, focusing on their mutual constitution, we will test the ensuing theoretical framework in an analysis of SYRIZA, a recent and, as a result, under-researched example of egalitarian, inclusionary populism emerging within the European crisis landscape.

The populism/anti-populism frontier and its mediation in crisis-ridden Greece: from discursive divide to emerging cleavage?

“…In order to do this, the 'important notion of anti-populism' which 'has never really been studied or thematized as such' (Ostiguy, 2009: 23-4) needs to be brought to the fore. Hence, highlighting the need to study populism and anti-populism together and focusing on their mutual constitution from a discursive perspective (Stavrakakis et al, 2017), we will articulate a brief yet comprehensive analysis of populist and anti-populist actors (parties and media) in contemporary Greece. In doing so, we reconstruct the development of the populist/anti-populist divide in Greece's post-authoritarian history, up until the recent crisis.…”

“…Connecting both perspectives, Ernesto Laclau has highlighted the dual character of social dislocation: a dislocation, the failure of an established system of representation to effectively incorporate an 'anomaly' (or 'failure') is presupposed as a triggering mechanism for new populist (and other) discursive constructions performatively narrating its characteristics and offering distinct political solutions (1990: 63, 65). In this approach, the real of the crisis (what others would call the 'objective' dimension of the crisis) becomes accessible through mediation, through its performative construction and representation by populist discourse (Stavrakakis et al, 2017).…”

Beyond populism and institutionalism: Anti‐populism and the management of austerity in Spain

“…See, for instance, Krastev (2007), Müller (2014), and Verbeek and Zaslove (2016). 2 The relationship between populism, institutionalism and anti-populism is addressed only in a footnote in Stavrakakis, Katsambekis, Kioupkiolis, Nikisianis, and Siomos (2017), in which institutionalism and anti-populism are presented as synonymous.…”

“…Nevertheless, in recent years, different scholars working within the so‐called Essex School of discourse analysis have coined the concept of anti‐populism to draw attention to those political discourses that have opposed populist irruptions throughout Europe (see Glynos & Mondon ; Karavasilis, ; Katsambekis, ; Medarov, ; Stavrakakis, ; Stavrakakis & Katsambekis ; Stavrakakis et al., ) . These authors, who in general have been critical of such discourses, have linked anti‐populism to a putative transition from democracy to “post‐democracy” (Crouch, ), that is, from politicized modes of government based on political deliberation towards depoliticized modes of governance that aim to reduce politics to the mere technocratic management of non‐conflicting affairs.…”

Conspiracy theories before and after the Greek crisis: Discursive patterns and political use of the “enemy” theme

“…These parties, despite their significant differences in most other aspects, formed a eurosceptic block that rejected neo-liberalism, and more or less blamed the international financial system, the inequalities inside the Eurozone and Germany's austerity doctrine for the crisis in Greece and the European South. Public debate was eventually marked by the polarisation between the two antagonistic discourses and the reciprocal accusations for 'populist' and 'anti-populist' demagogy (Sevastakis, Stavrakakis 2012, Stavrakakis et al 2017, Vamvakas 2014. On this basis, in January 2015, SYRIZA, having won a 36,3% of the votes, formed a coalition government with the smaller ANEL political party (4,75%); after the failure of negotiations for the revision of the bailout terms, and in spite of having organised a referendum in July 2015, in which 61,3% of the voters rejected the proposed Memorandum, Alexis Tsipras' government, with the support of the ANEL, started implementing the reforms requested by the former 'troika', henceforth called 'the Institutions'.…”