Where are the people? Refocusing political geography on populism

The mainstreaming of “vulgar territory” and popular visions of hyper‐bordered and feminized territory

“…In such an environment, vulgar territory can provide a basis for making normative judgments about increasingly violent and exclusionary forms of territorial governance that are characterizing contemporary popular politics (cf. Lizotte, 2019). While we should of course keep in view the banal and extraordinary forms of violence done in the name of maintaining the state‐territorial status quo, we should recognize that the democratically determined “will of the people” has proven in many cases to be equally, if not more brutal in its desire to spatially exclude bodies marked by their racial, national, and other forms of difference.…”

Interventions on European nationalist populism and bordering in time of emergencies

“…Until recently, however, the contribution of political geography and border studies to the analysis of populism has been limited, even though borders, sovereignty, globalization, and inequality are crucial elements mobilized by the current populist wave. In responding to a call to “refocus political geography on populism” ( Lizotte, 2018 ), and in light of research developed within critical border studies (CBS) and political geography, these interventions seek to encourage a discussion of borders and bordering processes as crucial perspectives for exploring the current wave of populism, and especially what has been termed nationalist populism, in which discourses focus on nations , as well as people ( Rydgren, 2017 ; Stavrakakis et al., 2017 ). In a recent contribution Brubaker claims that populism and nationalism cannot be interpreted as analytically independent: they are both constitutive of populism itself, and “a sharp distinction between populism and nationalism misses the ambiguity and ambivalence that are internal to populist discourse” ( Brubaker, 2020 , p. 61).…”

Changing geographies of the state: themes, challenges and futures

“…What is perhaps most surprising is that the desire for a stronger, more authoritarian state is coming in some cases from electoral majorities and pluralities. Across Europe and North America, voters are choosing parties and leaders that promise an end to partisan gridlock and a solution to the excesses of globalization -if only they will support draconian policies to exclude newcomers and renew an idealized national culture (Brubaker 2020;Lizotte 2019). We should also be attuned to situations in which non-state actors attempt to ape state mechanisms for reproducing its territory and enforce a politics of exclusion.…”