The People and Populism

Abstract

Abstract. "What is and what is defined as populism?" In response to this question the best political theories and philosophies have put forward many different answers, that are taken into account in this article. The article affirms the constitutive ambiguity of the concept of "populism" and its ability to unify very different issues. After analyzing some of the implications that populism entails in practice (in particular the political use of fear and the emphasis on the role of the citizens' anxieties because of migratory flows, the spiral of fear and insecurity triggered by terrorism, the role of religions as symbolic repertoires), the article stresses the link between populism and the end of the logic of the principle of representation, specific of the liberal and democratic theories. The emphasis on the role of the "people" in opposition to the political elites is also a feature of populism, analyzed by the author in this article. In conclusion, the author focuses on the legal field: some of the contemporary constitutional theories, in particular the so-called "popular constitutionalism", are discussed. These theories, while polemicizing with those authors who overestimate the role of the Supreme Court, reassess the function of the average citizen in the life of constitutional culture, with the intent of favouring greater political participation and strengthening democratic life.

“Kung Flu”—The Dynamics of Fear, Popular Culture, and Authenticity in the Anatomy of Populist Communication

“…Depending on the author, different attributes are added to this core meaning such as advocacy for direct forms of democracy (Crowther, 2018;Zaccaria, 2018), attacks on news media (Higgins 2017), the use of social media (Baldwin-Philippi, 2018), nativism (Betz, 2018), and an unorthodox relation to the truth (Harsin, 2018). Populism is often related to a certain emotional style, particularly a rhetoric of anger, resentment, and indignation (Canovan, 1999;Demertzis, 2006;Higgins, 2017;Betz, 2018;Zaccaria, 2018) that does not aim at guiding listeners to rational decisions but to emotionally driven actions. Despite its generally rather negative connotations, some authors describe populism as an agent of social change (Crowther, 2018) or as a phenomenon that is unavoidable in democracies (Canovan, 1999).…”

“…This argument neglects the sociation function of angst and the fact that even in evolution-theoretical accounts fear is often connected to flight behavior. Zaccaria (2018) does recognize the functionality of a rhetoric of fear. He describes how the threat of losing important goods can translate into aggressions toward the people allegedly responsible for the feared loss.…”