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80-561: During the colonial era, the newspaper is served as the mouthpiece for Awolowo's populist welfare programs. It played an important role in defending the interests of the Yoruba people in a period when different ethnic groups struggled for ascendancy. After Nigeria gained independence in the 1960s, most publications were government-owned until the 1990s, but private papers such as the Nigerian Tribune , The Punch , Vanguard , and

160-695: A challenge in that they now represent a new elite. In such cases—like Chávez in Venezuela and Vladimír Mečiar in Slovakia—populists retain their anti-establishment rhetoric by making changes to their concept of "the elite" to suit their new circumstances, alleging that real power is not held by the government but other powerful forces who continue to undermine the populist government and the will of "the people" itself. In these instances, populist governments often conceptualise "the elite" as those holding economic power . In Venezuela, for example, Chávez blamed

240-553: A common cause. One of the ways that populists employ the understanding of "the people" is in the idea that "the people are sovereign", that in a democratic state governmental decisions should rest with the population and that if they are ignored then they might mobilise or revolt. This is the sense of "the people" employed in the late 19th century United States by the People's Party and which has also been used by later populist movements in that country. A second way in which "the people"

320-535: A constructivist account of 'discourse'. By drawing on the work of the later Wittgenstein, they argued that social entities only become meaningful through both linguistic and non-linguistic discursive articulation. As such, the meaning of something is never pre-given but is, instead, constructed through social practices. In a later summary of his view, Laclau claims there is support for this broad sense of discourse in Saussure. "By discourse... I do not mean something that

400-424: A dichotomy between inclusionary and exclusionary forms, such as right-wing populists welcoming culturally proximate migrants with transnational solidarity. Populists (claim to) speak in the name of the 'oppressed people', and they want to emancipate them by making them aware of their oppression. However, they do not want to change their values or their 'way of life.' This is fundamentally different from, for example,

480-706: A direction he did not appreciate. In the same interview, he claimed that he came from a Yrigoyenista family, and that the Peronist politician Arturo Jauretche , a strong opponent of Justo 's dictatorship during the Infamous Decade of the 1930s, was a close friend of his father. In his later years, he had close ties with the Argentine Socialist Confederation (Spanish: Confederación Socialista Argentina ), and in Argentina he

560-737: A discourse, ideology, or worldview. These definitions were initially employed largely in Western Europe, although later became increasingly popular in Eastern Europe and the Americas. According to this approach, populism is viewed as a "thin ideology" or "thin-centred ideology" which on its own is seen as too insubstantial to provide a blueprint for societal change. It thus differs from the "thick-centred" or "full" ideologies such as fascism , liberalism , and socialism, which provide more far-reaching ideas about social transformation. As

640-414: A family of related concepts rather than as a single concept in itself. The confusion surrounding the term has led some scholars to suggest that it should be abandoned by scholarship. In contrast to this view, the political scientists Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser stated that "while the frustration is understandable, the term populism is too central to debates about politics from Europe to

720-705: A given society, populists often exclude both themselves and those sympathetic to their cause even when they too are in positions of power. For instance, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), a right-wing populist group, regularly condemned "the media" in Austria for defending "the elite", but excluded from that the Kronen Zeitung , a widely read tabloid that supported the FPÖ and its leader Jörg Haider . When populists take governmental power, they are faced with

800-505: A highly emotional manner, or with political opportunism, to characterise politicians who exploit problems and seek to please voters without rational consideration as to the best course of action. Some scholars have linked populist policies to adverse economic outcomes, as "economic disintegration, decreasing macroeconomic stability, and the erosion of institutions typically go hand in hand with populist rule." Although frequently used by historians, social scientists, and political commentators,

880-451: A homogeneous/pure people, or that it takes shape socially as an ideology. These assumptions can be counter-productive to the study of populism which has arguably become excessively conceptually deductive. Still, this does not mean we cannot come to a more minimal, formal definition of what populism is that can consensually group scholars and open up research to a broader scope, as indicated by Stavrakakis and De Cleen in defining populism as

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960-540: A much stricter sense, generally being focused on a particular sociocultural group and antagonistic against minority groups. However, this is not exactly a pure dichotomy—exclusive populists can still give voice to those who feel marginalised by the political status quo and include minorities if it is advantageous, while inclusive populists can vary significantly in how inclusive they actually are. In addition, all populisms are implicitly exclusionary, since they define "the people" against "the elite", thus some scholars argue that

1040-461: A patriotic Nigerian elder statesman, laments how "the corruption and selfishness of successive leaders have destroyed the hopes not just of Nigerians but of the entire black race". The managing director and editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Tribune , Segun Olatunji, resigned in December 2008 in the wake of a series of staff changes. A few days later the editor, Rauf Abiodun, also resigned. Sam Adesua

1120-402: A pejorative sense have subsequently embraced the term while seeking to shed it of negative connotations. The French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen for instance was often accused of populism and eventually responded by stating that "Populism precisely is taking into account the people's opinion. Have people the right, in a democracy, to hold an opinion? If that is the case, then yes, I am

1200-639: A populist." Similarly, on being founded in 2003, the centre-left Lithuanian Labour Party declared: "we are and will be called populists." Following 2016, the year which saw the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union —both events linked to populism—the word populism became one of the most widely used terms by international political commentators. In 2017,

1280-432: A synonym for "the nation", whether that national community be conceived in either ethnic or civic terms. In such a framework, all individuals regarded as being "native" to a particular state, either by birth or by ethnicity, could be considered part of "the people". Left and right populists ... both regard representative democracy as being captivated by political elites and powerful interest groups. However, populists of

1360-579: A thin-centred ideology, populism is therefore attached to a thick-ideology by populist politicians. Thus, populism can be found merged with forms of nationalism, liberalism, socialism, federalism , or conservatism. According to Stanley, "the thinness of populism ensures that in practice it is a complementary ideology: it does not so much overlap with as diffuse itself throughout full ideologies." Populism is, according to Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, "a kind of mental map through which individuals analyse and comprehend political reality". Mudde noted that populism

1440-403: A topic that was prevalent in his earliest writings: populism. In On Populist Reason , Laclau considered the nature of populism in political discourse, the creation of a popular hegemonic bloc such as "the people", and the importance of affect in politics. Building on his earlier work, Laclau argued that the basis of populism lies in the creation of " empty signifiers ": words and ideas that express

1520-516: A type of discourse ‘characterized by a people/elite distinction and the claim to speak in the name of "the people."’ As a result of the various different ideologies with which populism can be paired, the forms that populism can take vary widely. Populism itself cannot be positioned on the left–right political spectrum , and both right and left-wing populisms exist. Populist movements can also mix divisions between left and right, for instance by combining xenophobic attitudes commonly associated with

1600-488: A universal idea of justice, and symbolically structure the political environment. Against those who see populism as a threat to democracy, Laclau argued that it is an essential component of it. Laclau is known for his long standing dialogue with Lacanian "arch-Marxist" Slavoj Žižek . This dates back to at least 1989, when Laclau wrote the introduction to Žižek's first book in English ( The Sublime Object of Ideology ). Žižek

1680-653: A wide array of political actors". The political scientist Ben Stanley noted that "although the meaning of the term has proven controversial in the literature, the persistence with which it has recurred suggests the existence at least of an ineliminable core: that is, that it refers to a distinct pattern of ideas." Political scientist David Art argues that the concept of populism brings together disparate phenomena in an unhelpful manner, and ultimately obscures and legitimizes figures who are more comprehensively defined as nativists and authoritarians. Although academic definitions of populism have differed, most of them have focused on

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1760-616: Is "moralistic rather than programmatic". It encourages a binary world-view in which everyone is divided into "friends and foes", with the latter being regarded not just as people who have "different priorities and values" but as being fundamentally "evil". In emphasising one's purity against the corruption and immorality of "the elite", from which "the people" must remain pure and untouched, populism prevents compromise between different groups. The incredible rise in research and discussion about populism, both academic and social, stems largely from efforts by ideational scholars to place centre stage

1840-455: Is a product of "an antagonistic relationship" between "the people" and "the elite", and is "latent wherever the possibility occurs for the emergence of such a dichotomy". The political scientist Manuel Anselmi proposed that populism be defined as featuring a "homogeneous community-people" which "perceives itself as the absolute holder of popular sovereignty" and "expresses an anti-establishment attitude." This understanding conceives of populism as

1920-541: Is a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of the common people and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite group. It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed in the late 19th century and has been applied to various politicians, parties and movements since that time, often as a pejorative . Within political science and other social sciences , several different definitions of populism have been employed, with some scholars proposing that

2000-521: Is associated with Peronism . Laclau's early work was influenced by Althusserian Marxism and focused on issues debated within Neo-Marxist circles in the 1970s, such as the role of the state, the dynamics of capitalism, the importance of building popular movements, and the possibility of revolution. Laclau's most significant book is Hegemony and Socialist Strategy , which he co-authored with Chantal Mouffe in 1985. The position outlined in this book

2080-429: Is conceived by populists combines a socioeconomic or class based category with one that refers to certain cultural traditions and popular values. The concept seeks to vindicate the dignity of a social group who regard themselves as being oppressed by a dominant "elite" who are accused of treating "the people's" values, judgements, and tastes with suspicion or contempt. A third use of "the people" by populists employs it as

2160-519: Is essentially restricted to the areas of speech and writing, but any complex of elements in which relations play the constitutive role. This means that elements do not pre-exist the relational complex but are constituted through it. Thus 'relation' and 'objectivity' are synonymous. Saussure asserted that there are no positive terms in language, only differences — something is what it is only through its differential relations to something else." Laclau subsequently used this account of discourse to re-consider

2240-627: Is rare given that the "people" and "elite" are typically of the same ethnicity. For some populist leaders and movements, the term "the elite" also refers to an academic or intellectual establishment and, as such, entails scholars, intellectuals, experts, or organized science as a whole. Such leaders and movements may criticise scientific knowledge as abstract, useless, and ideologically biased, and instead demand common sense , experiential knowledge, and practical solutions to be "true knowledge". Ernesto Laclau Ernesto Laclau ( Spanish: [laˈklaw] ; 6 October 1935 – 13 April 2014)

2320-411: Is seen to favour, such as immigrants, homosexuals, travellers, or communists. Populist leaders thus "come in many different shades and sizes" but, according to Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, share one common element: "a carefully crafted image of the vox populi ". Stanley expressed the view that although there are "certain family resemblances" that can be seen between populist groups and individuals, there

2400-425: Is that it is in an "adversarial relationship" with "the people". In defining "the elite", populists often condemn not only the political establishment, but also the economic elite, cultural elite, academic elite, and the media elite, which they present as one homogeneous, corrupt group. In early 21st century India, the populist Bharatiya Janata Party for instance accused the dominant Indian National Congress party,

2480-549: Is usually described as post-Marxist because it rejects (a) Marxist economic determinism and (b) the view that class struggle is the most important antagonism in society. In their 2001 introduction to the second edition Laclau and Mouffe commented on this label, stating that whilst ' post -Marxist' they were also 'post- Marxist ': their work, though a departure from traditional Western Marxism, retained similar concerns and ideas. A key innovation in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy

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2560-519: Is widely recognized as responsible for Laclau's increased acceptance of Lacanian ideas and his essay "Beyond Discourse Analysis", which was published in Laclau's New Reflections on the Revolutions of Our Time (1990), provided a psychoanalytic critique of Laclau's work. In 2000, Laclau, Žižek and Judith Butler published the trialogue Contingency, Hegemony, Universality , in which each responded to

2640-701: The Cambridge Dictionary declared it the Word of the Year . Until the 1950s, use of the term populism remained restricted largely to historians studying the People's Party, but in 1954 the US sociologist Edward Shils published an article proposing populism as a term to describe anti-elite trends in US society more broadly. Following on from Shils' article, during the 1960s the term "populism" became increasingly popular among sociologists and other academics in

2720-567: The Guardian continued to expose public and private scandals despite government attempts at suppression. General Ibrahim Babangida stated that out of all the Nigerian newspapers, he would only read and take seriously the Nigerian Tribune's editorial column. The book Leadership Failure and Nigeria's Fading Hopes by Femi Okurounmu consists of excerpts from a weekly column in the Nigerian Tribune published between 2004 and 2009. The author,

2800-592: The Communist Party of India , NGOs, academia, and the English-language media of all being part of "the elite". When operating in liberal democracies, populists often condemn dominant political parties as part of "the elite" but at the same time do not reject the party political system altogether, instead either calling for or claiming to be a new kind of party different from the others. Although condemning almost all those in positions of power within

2880-401: The left–right political spectrum , and there exist both left-wing populism and right-wing populism . Other scholars of the social sciences have defined the term populism differently. According to the popular agency definition used by some historians of United States history, populism refers to popular engagement of the population in political decision-making. An approach associated with

2960-479: The social sciences . In 1967 a Conference on Populism was held at the London School of Economics , the participants of which failed to agree on a clear, single definition. As a result of this scholarly interest, an academic field known as "populism studies" emerged. Interest in the subject grew rapidly: between 1950 and 1960 about 160 publications on populism appeared, while between 1990 and 2000 that number

3040-660: The "Church of the Left". In some instances, particularly in Latin America and Africa, "the elites" are conceived not just in economic but also in ethnic terms, representing what political scientists have termed ethnopopulism . In Bolivia, for example, the left-wing populist leader Evo Morales juxtaposed the mestizo and indigenous "people" against an overwhelmingly European "elite", declaring that "We Indians [i.e. indigenous people] are Latin America's moral reserve". In

3120-422: The (early) socialists, who want(ed) to 'uplift the workers' by re-educating them, thereby liberating them from their 'false consciousness'. For populists, on the other hand, the consciousness of the people, generally referred to as common sense, is the basis of all good (politics). Political scientist Cas Mudde For populists, "the people" are presented as being homogeneous, and also virtuous. In simplifying

3200-717: The 1990s, populism was often associated with politicians like Peru's Alberto Fujimori who promoted neoliberal economics, while in the 2000s it was instead associated with those like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez who promoted socialist programs. As well as populists of the left and right, populist figures like Italy's Beppe Grillo have been characterised as centrist and liberal , while groups like Turkey's Justice and Development Party have been described as combining populism with Islamism , and India's Bharatiya Janata Party has been seen as mixing populism with Hindu nationalism . Although populists of different ideological traditions can oppose each other, they can also form coalitions, as

3280-475: The Americas to simply do away with." Similarly, Canovan noted that the term "does have comparatively clear and definite meanings in a number of specialist areas" and that it "provides a pointer, however shaky, to an interesting and largely unexplored area of political and social experience". The political scientists Daniele Albertazzi and Duncan McDonnell thought that "if carefully defined, the term 'populism' can be used profitably to help us understand and explain

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3360-585: The Bolivian case, this was not accompanied by a racially exclusionary approach, but with an attempt to build a pan-ethnic coalition which included European Bolivians against the largely European Bolivian elite. In South Africa, the populist Julius Malema has presented black South Africans as the "people" whom he claims to represent, calling for the expropriation of land owned by the white minority without compensation. In areas like Europe where nation-states are more ethnically homogeneous, this ethnopopulist approach

3440-521: The Martians". Their disagreement escalated in the pages of Critical Inquiry in 2006, when in a spate of essays the two argued in an increasingly hostile manner about political action, Marxism and class struggle, Hegel, populism, and the Lacanian Real. More recently in a 2014 interview with David Howarth, Laclau stated that his relationship with Žižek had deteriorated due to the latter adopting

3520-748: The US. Laclau died of a heart attack in Seville in 2014. Laclau studied history at the University of Buenos Aires and was a member of the PSIN (Socialist Party of the National Left) until 1969, when the British historian Eric Hobsbawm supported his entrance to Oxford. He had close links with Jorge Abelardo Ramos , the founder of the PSIN, although he stated in 2005 that the latter had evolved in

3600-785: The University of Essex, where he founded and directed for many years the graduate programme in Ideology and Discourse Analysis , as well as the Centre for Theoretical Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Under his directorship, the Ideology and Discourse Analysis programme has provided a research framework for the development of a distinct type of discourse analysis that draws on post-structuralist theory (especially

3680-518: The common use of the term Populism to refer to far-right nativism and racism, noting that the original People's Party was relatively liberal on the rights of women and minorities by the standards of the time. The V-Party Dataset assesses populism as anti-elitism and people-centrism. A thin-centred ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogenous and antagonistic camps, "the pure people" versus "the corrupt elite", and which argues that politics should be an expression of

3760-427: The complexities of reality, the concept of "the people" is vague and flexible, with this plasticity benefitting populists who are thus able to "expand or contract" the concept "to suit the chosen criteria of inclusion or exclusion" at any given time. In employing the concept of "the people", populists can encourage a sense of shared identity among different groups within a society and facilitate their mobilisation toward

3840-435: The difference between populisms is not whether a particular populism excludes but whom it excludes from its conception of "the people". Anti-elitism is widely considered the central characteristic feature of populism, although Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser argued that anti-elitism alone was not evidence of populism. Rather, according to Stanley, in populist discourse the "fundamental distinguishing feature" of "the elite"

3920-544: The economic elite for frustrating his reforms, while in Greece, the left-wing populist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused "the lobbyists and oligarchs of Greece" of undermining his administration. In populist instances like these, the claims made have some basis in reality, as business interests seek to undermine leftist-oriented economic reform. Although left-wing populists who combine populist ideas with forms of socialism most commonly present "the elite" in economic terms,

4000-417: The far-right British National Party conceived of the "native British people" as its heartland. Mudde noted that for populists, "the people" "are neither real nor all-inclusive, but are in fact a mythical and constructed sub-set of the whole population". They are an imagined community, much like the imagined communities embraced and promoted by nationalists. Populism often entails presenting "the people" as

4080-400: The far-right with redistributive economic policies closer to those of the left. [Populism's] core consists of four distinct but interrelated concepts: The ideational definition of populism used by Ben Stanley The ideologies with which populism can be paired can be contradictory, resulting in different forms of populism that can oppose each other. For instance, in Latin America during

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4160-464: The first major use of the term in English was by members of the left-leaning agrarian People's Party and its predecessors, which were active in the United States from around 1889 to 1909. The Russian and American movements differed in various respects. In the 1920s, the term entered the French language , where it was used to describe a group of writers expressing sympathy for ordinary people. As

4240-516: The idea that it should reference some form of relationship between "the people" and "the elite", and that it entailed taking an anti-establishment stance. Beyond that, different scholars have emphasised different features that they wish to use to define populism. These differences have occurred both within specific scholarly disciplines and among different disciplines, varying for instance among scholars focusing on different regions and different historical periods. Author Thomas Frank has criticized

4320-440: The nature of identity, arguing that all political identities are discursive - even if they are experienced by individuals as 'natural' (even to the point where one's identity is not recognised as an identity). For example, though an individual may think that they are just 'born male' this is, for Laclau not the case: 'maleness' is a socially constructed category that has no innate meaning. In his more recent works Laclau returned to

4400-536: The newspaper's board of directors appointed Edward Dickson as managing director and editor-in-chief, Debo Abdulai as editor of the Nigerian Tribune , Sina Oladeinde as editor of the Sunday Tribune , and Lasisi Olagunju as Saturday Tribune editor. African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC is the publisher of the Nigerian Tribune, with Tribune Online as its online edition. Populism Populism

4480-474: The others' works in a three-essay cycle. Although Žižek and Laclau noted their similarities and mutual respect, significant political and theoretical differences emerged between all three interlocutors. Following several acrimonious publications in the early 2000s, Laclau wrote in On Populist Reason (2005) that Žižek had an impractical and confused approach to politics, describing him as "waiting for

4560-489: The political mainstream or a threat to democracy . The political scientists Yves Mény and Yves Surel noted that "populism" had become "a catchword, particularly in the media, to designate the newborn political or social movements which challenge the entrenched values, rules and institutions of democratic orthodoxy." Typically, the term is used against others, often in a pejorative sense to discredit opponents. Some of those who have repeatedly been referred to as "populists" in

4640-565: The political scientist Ernesto Laclau presents populism as an emancipatory social force through which marginalised groups challenge dominant power structures. Some economists have used the term in reference to governments which engage in substantial public spending financed by foreign loans, resulting in hyperinflation and emergency measures. In popular discourse — where the term has often been used pejoratively — it has sometimes been used synonymously with demagogy , to describe politicians who present overly simplistic answers to complex questions in

4720-441: The political scientist Carlos de la Torre defined populism as "a Manichean discourse that divides politics and society as the struggle between two irreconcilable and antagonistic camps: the people and the oligarchy or the power block." In this understanding, note Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, "populism always involves a critique of the establishment and an adulation of the common people", and according to Ben Stanley, populism itself

4800-516: The political scientist Paul Taggart has said of populism that it is "one of the most widely used but poorly understood political concepts of our time". In 1858, an English translator for Alphonse de Lamartine used the term as an antonym for "aristocratic". In the Russian Empire in the 1860s and 1870s, a left-leaning agrarian group referred to itself as the narodniki , which has often been translated into English as populists . But

4880-514: The political, economic, cultural, and media establishment, depicted as a homogeneous entity and accused of placing their own interests, and often the interests of other groups—such as large corporations, foreign countries, or the ruling political party—above the interests of "the people". According to the ideational approach, populism is often combined with other ideologies, such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism , capitalism or consumerism . Thus, populists can be found at different locations along

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4960-525: The right tend to express envy for those low on the social ladder, identifying 'special interests' with ethnic or other minorities. Progressive populists, on the other hand, envy those high on the social ladder, identifying 'special interests' with powerful groups such as large corporations. Political scientist Tjitske Akkerman Populism typically entails "celebrating them as the people", in Stanley's words. The political scientist Paul Taggart proposed

5040-665: The same strategy is also employed by some right-wing populists. In the United States during the late 2000s, the Tea Party movement —which presented itself as a defender of the capitalist free market —argued that big business, and its allies in Congress , seeks to undermine the free market and kill competition by stifling small business. Among some 21st century right-wing populists, "the elite" are presented as being left-wing radicals committed to political correctness . The Dutch right-wing populist leader Pim Fortuyn referred to this as

5120-404: The significance of appeals to the people beyond ideological differences, and to conceptualise populism as a discursive phenomenon. Nevertheless, the ideational school's approach to populism is problematic for the amount of substantive assumptions it imposes on how populism actually works as a discursive phenomenon, such as the idea that it is of a moral register, that vindications always refer to

5200-482: The term populism is applied to political groups and individuals who make appeals to "the people" and then contrast this group against "the elite". Adopting this approach, Albertazzi and McDonnell define populism as an ideology that "pits a virtuous and homogeneous people against a set of elites and dangerous 'others' who are together depicted as depriving (or attempting to deprive) the sovereign people of their rights, values, prosperity, identity, and voice". Similarly,

5280-482: The term "the heartland" to better reflect what populists often mean in their rhetoric. According to Taggart, "the heartland" was the place "in which, in the populist imagination, a virtuous and unified population resides". Who this "heartland" is can vary between populists, even within the same country. For instance, in Britain, the centre-right Conservative Party conceived of " Middle England " as its heartland, while

5360-423: The term [ populism ] is exceptionally vague and refers in different contexts to a bewildering variety of phenomena. Margaret Canovan , 1981 The word "populism" has been contested, mistranslated and used in reference to a diverse variety of movements and beliefs. The political scientist Will Brett characterised it as "a classic example of a stretched concept, pulled out of shape by overuse and misuse", while

5440-458: The term be rejected altogether. A common framework for interpreting populism is known as the ideational approach: this defines populism as an ideology that presents "the people" as a morally good force and contrasts them against "the elite", who are portrayed as corrupt and self-serving. Populists differ in how "the people" are defined, but it can be based along class, ethnic, or national lines. Populists typically present "the elite" as comprising

5520-624: The term has rarely been used as a political self-designation since the first decade of the 1900s, its meaning has broadened. As noted by the political scientist Margaret Canovan , "there has been no self-conscious international populist movement which might have attempted to control or limit the term's reference, and as a result those who have used it have been able to attach it a wide variety of meanings." In this it differs from other political terms, like " socialism " or " conservatism ", which have been widely used as self-designations by individuals who have then presented their own, internal definitions of

5600-706: The term is far too ambiguous for that". From examining how the term "populism" had been used, she proposed that seven different types of populism could be discerned. Three of these were forms of "agrarian populism"; these included farmers' radicalism, peasant movements, and intellectual agrarian socialism. The other four were forms of "political populism", representing populist dictatorship, populist democracy, reactionary populism, and politicians' populism. She noted that these were "analytical constructs" and that "real-life examples may well overlap several categories", adding that no single political movement fitted into all seven categories. In this way, Canovan conceived of populism as

5680-982: The underdog. Populists typically seek to reveal to "the people" how they are oppressed. In doing so, they do not seek to change "the people", but rather seek to preserve the latter's "way of life" as it presently exists, regarding it as a source of good. For populists, the way of life of "the people" is presented as being rooted in history and tradition and regarded as being conducive to public good. Although populist leaders often present themselves as representatives of "the people", they often come from elite strata in society; examples like Berlusconi, Fortuyn, and Haider were all well-connected to their country's political and economic elites. Populism can also be subdivided into "inclusionary" and "exclusionary" forms, which differ in their conceptions of who "the people" are. Inclusionary populism tends to define "the people" more broadly, accepting and advocating for minority and marginalised groups, while exclusionary populism defines "the people" in

5760-440: The volonté générale ( general will ) of the people. The ideational definition of populism used by Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser A common approach to defining populism is known as the ideational approach. This emphasises the notion that populism should be defined according to specific ideas which underlie it, as opposed to certain economic policies or leadership styles which populist politicians may display. In this definition,

5840-431: The word. Instead it shares similarities with terms such as " far left ", " far right ", or " extremist ", which are often used in political discourse but rarely as self-designations. In news media, the term "populism" has often been conflated with other concepts like demagoguery , and generally presented as something to be "feared and discredited". It has often been applied to movements that are considered to be outside

5920-658: The work of Saussure , and Derrida ), post-analytic thought ( Wittgenstein , and Richard Rorty ) and psychoanalysis (primarily the work of Lacan ) to provide innovative analysis of concrete political phenomena, such as identities, discourses and hegemonies. This theoretical and analytical orientation is known today as the ' Essex School of discourse analysis '. Over his career Laclau lectured extensively in many universities in North America, South America, Western Europe, Australia, and South Africa. He also held positions at SUNY Buffalo and Northwestern University , both in

6000-691: Was "no coherent tradition" unifying all of them. While many left-wing parties in the early 20th century presented themselves as the vanguard of the proletariat , by the early 21st century left-wing populists were presenting themselves as the "voice of the people" more widely. On the political right, populism is often combined with nationalism, with "the people" and "the nation" becoming fairly interchangeable categories in their discourse, or combined with religion where "the people" are identified based on religion. Some political scientists have also argued that populism can be divided into left-wing inclusionary and right-wing exclusionary forms, though some argue against

6080-480: Was Laclau and Mouffe's argument that left-wing movements need to build alliances with a wide variety of different groups if they are to be successful and establish a left-wing 'hegemony'. In the final chapter of the book, the project of "radical and plural democracy" was advocated: a democracy in which subjects accept the importance of the values of liberty and equality, but fight over what the terms mean. In Hegemony and Socialist Strategy Laclau and Mouffe also offered

6160-470: Was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher . He is often described as an 'inventor' of post-Marxist political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe . He studied history at the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Philosophy and Letters , graduating with a licenciatura in 1964, and received a PhD from the University of Essex in 1977. From 1986 he served as Professor of Political Theory at

6240-486: Was appointed as the new managing director and editor-in-chief of the newspaper by Mrs. HID Awolowo, the chair of African Newspapers of Nigeria Ltd., which owns the Nigerian Tribune . The changes were said to be part of a move to modernize the paper and expand beyond its narrow Yoruba base in the face of competition from papers such as The Westerner , The Nation and the Nigerian Compass . In September 2012,

6320-477: Was over 1500. From 2000 to 2015, about 95 papers and books including the term "populism" were catalogued each year by Web of Science . In 2016, it grew to 266; in 2017, it was 488, and in 2018, it was 615. Taggart argued that this academic interest was not consistent but appeared in "bursts" of research that reflected the political conditions of the time. Canovan noted that "if the notion of populism did not exist, no social scientist would deliberately invent it;

6400-499: Was seen in the Greek coalition government which brought together the left-wing populist Syriza and the right-wing populist Independent Greeks in 2015. Adherents of the ideational definition have also drawn a distinction between left and right-wing populists. The latter are presented as juxtaposing "the people" against both "the elite" and an additional group who are also regarded as being separate from "the people" and whom "the elite"

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