PANEL 11 /// (RE-)CONFIGURING THE LEFT: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO LEFT-WING POPULISM AND RADICAL DEMOCRACY
CONVENORS: JUANA LORENA AND PEDRO PINHEIRO
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected]
The discussants in this panel will include Samuele Mazzolini (Ca' Foscari University of Venice).
The view that most societies have been experiencing constant and multiple crises in the last years is consensual. The world has been facing global challenges such as the Covid-pandemic, climate crisis, continuous financial crisis, and a crisis of liberal democracy and, relatedly, crisis in political representation, to keep the list short.
The crisis of liberal democracy has been discussed in the field of political theory for about 30 years. The concept of post-democracy, coined by Colin Crouch in the early 2000s became paradigmatic for this debate as it suggested that political participation was hindered by the personal interests of lobbyists, oligarchic elites, and the political establishment. Along those lines, theorists like Chantal Mouffe, for instance, called for the necessity of “re-politicizing the political” to suggest left-wing populist alternatives for the crisis of liberal democracy. Leftist movements aiming at a populist articulation of society through discourse and the mobilization of affects and emotions arise since the early 2000s.
The long-standing consensus around neoliberalism, both as an economical doctrine and as a way of life, has been put in question, for instance, by popular movements against the Troika during and after the Euro crisis of 2008 in non-central European countries like Greece, Portugal, and Spain. And in Latin America, a new wave of left-wing governments (including some left-wing populist governments) claiming the expansion of democracy and social inclusion has emerged in the last years.
However, the political terrain has been strongly disputed. Rather than proposing a mere re-politicization, some theorists, such as Wendy Brown, suggest that we are living in a period of hyper-politicization. They note indeed that attempts to provide answers to the crises come not only from the left, but from the right as well. Right-wing forms of populism has achieved significant success in many parts of the world. Sometimes, this response from the right has consisted in a strong radicalization as a way out the crisis of representation, as can be observed in the cases of Donald Trump in the USA and Bolsonaro in Brazil. Hence the world seems to be facing a dynamization of crises and conflicts, which still needs a careful theoretical analysis. With this in mind, the panel seeks to connect research on left-wing populism and radical democracy - both within the fields of political theory and political philosophy - and explore different ways the left could take to overcome the current challenges outlined above.
In the last decades, there was a growth of interest in left-wing populism approaches. In this context, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, who proposed a discursive approach to populism, emphasizing emotions, have been particularly influential in shaping the discussion, creating a line of thought that significantly developed their original insights (e.g. Stavrakakis, Panizza, Katsambekis, and other theorists of the so-called Essex School). Other more recent contributions to the debate on left-wing populism have pointed instead towards ‘plebeian’ theories of democracy along materialist and institutional lines (e.g., Vatter, McCormick, Vergara, or also Fraser).
In this sense, theory and practice of inclusionary left-wing populism mutually impact each other, as we see in the cases of Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece, bringing hope to the left.
However, considering the (empirical) developments of left-wing populism, some critical considerations should be made about left-wing populism. Although left-wing populism demands horizontality and equality, the possibility to accomplish these goals has been disputed, for instance, by theorists like Müller or Urbinati, who question the very democratic core of populism. Furthermore, the recently nationalist turn of left-wing movements like Aufstehen! (“Stand Up!”) in Germany has also provoked a reflection on the limits of left-wing populism, to the extent that, as Celikates has argued, it shows that populism can easily turn against those excluded from the demos (especially migrants). More deeply, for Celikates, it is the very ontology of populism that hampers the radicalization of democracy toward the left.
Considering these debates, this panel aims to explore possible paths for the left to expand and radicalize democracy, focusing on two possibilities: left-wing populism and radical democracy.
Questions to be addressed include, but are not limited, to the following:
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected]
The discussants in this panel will include Samuele Mazzolini (Ca' Foscari University of Venice).
The view that most societies have been experiencing constant and multiple crises in the last years is consensual. The world has been facing global challenges such as the Covid-pandemic, climate crisis, continuous financial crisis, and a crisis of liberal democracy and, relatedly, crisis in political representation, to keep the list short.
The crisis of liberal democracy has been discussed in the field of political theory for about 30 years. The concept of post-democracy, coined by Colin Crouch in the early 2000s became paradigmatic for this debate as it suggested that political participation was hindered by the personal interests of lobbyists, oligarchic elites, and the political establishment. Along those lines, theorists like Chantal Mouffe, for instance, called for the necessity of “re-politicizing the political” to suggest left-wing populist alternatives for the crisis of liberal democracy. Leftist movements aiming at a populist articulation of society through discourse and the mobilization of affects and emotions arise since the early 2000s.
The long-standing consensus around neoliberalism, both as an economical doctrine and as a way of life, has been put in question, for instance, by popular movements against the Troika during and after the Euro crisis of 2008 in non-central European countries like Greece, Portugal, and Spain. And in Latin America, a new wave of left-wing governments (including some left-wing populist governments) claiming the expansion of democracy and social inclusion has emerged in the last years.
However, the political terrain has been strongly disputed. Rather than proposing a mere re-politicization, some theorists, such as Wendy Brown, suggest that we are living in a period of hyper-politicization. They note indeed that attempts to provide answers to the crises come not only from the left, but from the right as well. Right-wing forms of populism has achieved significant success in many parts of the world. Sometimes, this response from the right has consisted in a strong radicalization as a way out the crisis of representation, as can be observed in the cases of Donald Trump in the USA and Bolsonaro in Brazil. Hence the world seems to be facing a dynamization of crises and conflicts, which still needs a careful theoretical analysis. With this in mind, the panel seeks to connect research on left-wing populism and radical democracy - both within the fields of political theory and political philosophy - and explore different ways the left could take to overcome the current challenges outlined above.
In the last decades, there was a growth of interest in left-wing populism approaches. In this context, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, who proposed a discursive approach to populism, emphasizing emotions, have been particularly influential in shaping the discussion, creating a line of thought that significantly developed their original insights (e.g. Stavrakakis, Panizza, Katsambekis, and other theorists of the so-called Essex School). Other more recent contributions to the debate on left-wing populism have pointed instead towards ‘plebeian’ theories of democracy along materialist and institutional lines (e.g., Vatter, McCormick, Vergara, or also Fraser).
In this sense, theory and practice of inclusionary left-wing populism mutually impact each other, as we see in the cases of Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece, bringing hope to the left.
However, considering the (empirical) developments of left-wing populism, some critical considerations should be made about left-wing populism. Although left-wing populism demands horizontality and equality, the possibility to accomplish these goals has been disputed, for instance, by theorists like Müller or Urbinati, who question the very democratic core of populism. Furthermore, the recently nationalist turn of left-wing movements like Aufstehen! (“Stand Up!”) in Germany has also provoked a reflection on the limits of left-wing populism, to the extent that, as Celikates has argued, it shows that populism can easily turn against those excluded from the demos (especially migrants). More deeply, for Celikates, it is the very ontology of populism that hampers the radicalization of democracy toward the left.
Considering these debates, this panel aims to explore possible paths for the left to expand and radicalize democracy, focusing on two possibilities: left-wing populism and radical democracy.
Questions to be addressed include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Is populism a suitable instrument for the radicalization of democracy, or is it structurally contradictory to left principles?
- Does populism – left and right – inevitably entail a nationalist logic?
- Or rather than populism, is radical democracy a better way for the left?
- And relatedly, what are the possible synergies and contrasts between them?
- Which approaches in radical democratic theory are the most appropriate to address the present challenges for the left?
- Which role should the mobilization of affects and emotions play in left-wing politics?