Populism and the Crisis of Democracy: Volume 2: Politics, Social Movements and Extremism

Description

The contributions to this volume Politics, Social Movements and Extremism take serious the fact that populism is a symptom of the crisis of representation that is affecting parliamentary democracy. Right-wing populism skyrocketed to electoral success and is now part of the government in several European countries, but it also shaped the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election. In Southern Europe, left-wing populism transformed the classical two parties systems into ungovernable three fractions parliaments, whereas in Latin America it still presents an instable alternative to liberal democracy. The varying consequences of populist mobilisation so far consist in the maceration of the established borders of political culture, the distortion of legislation concerning migrants and migration, and the emergence of hybrid regimes bordering on and sometimes leaning towards dictatorship. Yet, in order to understand populism, innovative research approaches are required that need to be capable of overcoming stereotypes and conceptual dichotomies which are deeply rooted in the political debate. The chapters of this volume offer such new theoretical strategies for inquiring into the multi-faceted populist phenomenon. The chapters analyse its language, concepts and its relationship to social media in an innovative way, draw the contours of left- and right-wing populism and reconstruct its shifting delimitation to political extremism. Furthermore, they value the most significant aftermath of populist mobilisation on the institutional frame of parliamentary democracy from the limitation of the freedom of press, to the dismantling of the separation of powers, to the erosion of citizenship rights. This volume will be an invaluable reference for students and scholars in the field of political theory, political sociology and European Studies. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 4 Title Page......Page 8 Copyright Page......Page 9 Table of Contents......Page 10 List of figures and tables......Page 12 Notes on contributors......Page 14 Introduction: Political populism as a symptom of the great transformation of democracy......Page 16 Part I Language, media and the law......Page 24 1 The micro-politics of right-wing populism......Page 26 2 Populism 2.0: Social media and the false allure of ‘unmediated’ representation......Page 45 3 From protecting individual rights to protecting the public: The changing parameters of populist-driven criminal law and penal policy......Page 62 Part II Dimensions of right-wing populism......Page 80 4 Right-wing populism in context: A historical and systematic perspective......Page 82 5 Populism and the radical right in Europe: The paradigmatic case of the French Front National......Page 100 6 Ambivalences of cosmopolitanisms, elites and far-right populisms in twenty-first century Europe......Page 116 Part III Regimes, party systems, and political subjects......Page 134 7 The role of populist parties and movements in transitions to hybrid regimes in Europe......Page 136 8 Populism as a challenge for party systems: A comparison between Italy and Spain......Page 152 9 ‘Citizens’ or ‘people’? Competing meanings of the political subject in Latin America......Page 167 Index......Page 185