Populism and the History of Popular Sovereignty

Sovereignist claims are on the risein Europe, the USA, and beyond. In dealing with processes such as globalization and supranational integration, which have progressively shifted powers and competencies away from nation states, these transformations have created a fertile terrain for reactions against the sources of such insecurity, which find full expression in the sovereignist claims to 'take back control', that is to say to return to the traditional understanding of sovereignty being based upon mutually exclusive territories. These sources of insecurity and social unrest have also provided structures of political opportunity for the electoral success of populist parties. Despite its relevance for the understanding of the populist discourse, however, sovereignty has been largely under-theorised by scholars dealing with populism. Accordingly, we propose a new research agenda to study populist mobilization that focuses on the linkage between populism and sovereignism, while also encouraging further theoretical and empirical studies, focusing on both the demand side and the supply side. In particular, we suggest some crucial aspects with which the Special Issue seeks to engage, before pointing to some substantial implications that are likely to emerge from the findings of this research agenda.

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“…This popular ground legitimizes democratic politics but also paves the way for populism. (see also Kelly, 2017)…”

Section: Bridging Sovereignism and Populismmentioning

confidence: 96%

Sovereignist wine in populist bottles? An introduction

Basile

Mazzoleni

2019

European Politics and Society

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“…In the wake of the 2014 European elections, Marine Le Pen thanked her supporters in France by saying "the sovereign people have spoken loudly to say they want to be master of their own destiny." 1 Blühdorn and Butzlaff (2019: 194) speak of the "discursive arena for the performance of sovereignty" that populist actors employ in their political rhetoric in order to boost their democratic legitimacy and broader popularity (similarly Kelly, 2017). Populist parties mobilize the notion of popular sovereignty proclaiming to advocate for the silent majority.…”

Section: Conceptualizing the "Political": The Perpetual State Of Exce...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘Will of the People’: The Populist Challenge to Democracy in the Name of Popular Sovereignty

Schmidtke

2023

Social & Legal Studies

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This article analyses how right-wing populist actors claim to represent the “voice of the people” and express “popular sovereignty” as a mode of challenging the traditional constitutional foundation of liberal democracy. This hypothesis is illustrated by an investigation into the political discourse of the Alternative for Germany considering how this populist actor has developed a political strategy claiming to speak for the “people” in an authentic and immediate fashion. The analysis of this actor's political mobilization shows how the championed direct democratic representation is couched in a sovereigntist discourse that relies on divisive identity markers rather than genuine democratic participation. Drawing on Carl Schmitt's concept of the political, the article interprets right-wing populism as invoking a permanent “state of exception” that employs an emotionally charged friend– enemy distinction whose logic of representing the people has the potential of triggering radical political change as well as undermining the integrity of rule-based democracy.

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“…The archetypal cases of populism might show some agreement about its features (particularly constructions of the people vs. the elite), yet the categories that are often used to conceptualise the phenomenon -such as ideology, logic, discourse, or strategy -are blurry (Moffitt and Tormey 2014). Indeed, scholars have argued (Kelly 2017) that the history of modern populism and the history of modern popular sovereignty are coterminous, simply because modern democratic politics is premised upon claims of the history of popular sovereignty. The BJP and the RSS, the BJP's grassroots military social organisation, have meticulously risen to power through an "unconditional public commitment" to liberal democratic institutions, while still effectively using organised mob violence as a tactic to gain popular support (Ahmad 2016).…”

Section: The New Experts: Economic Liberalisation and Changing Govern...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The New Experts: Populism, Technocracy and Politics of Expertise in Contemporary India

Sajjanhar

2021

Journal of Contemporary Asia

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Over the last five years, the Indian right-wing has been discrediting left-liberal experts, and encouraging pseudo-scientific religious knowledge systems. Yet, crucially, it has also cultivated its own institutional networks of (those it considers to be) intellectuals and experts: an ostensibly anti-colonial alternative authority to challenge the "hegemony of the progressives" and the "erstwhile custodians of discourse." In this article, I examine the evolution of a shifting network of experts and elites, interrogating what is considered to be expertise in the context of governance. Through a study of Indian think tanks, I show how Prime Minister Modi's government is constructing an ideology that combines populist anti-intellectualism with new forms of technocratic expertise to produce a distinct nationalist agenda. I argue that two forms of political legitimacy govern contemporary India: 1) populist politics, which appeals to the masses/majority by defining nationalism through rigid boundaries of caste, class, and religion; and 2) technocratic policy, which produces a consensus of pragmatism and neutralises charges of hyper-nationalism. I emphasise the relational dynamic between the two: they function through different, often contradictory, logics and content yet are able to work towards the same goals in key moments of mutual reinforcement. Using data from participant observation and over 50 interviews in New Delhi, before and after the BJP's election victory in 2019, this article argues that the BJP's style of populism is distinct from others in its marriage of ultra-nationalism and economic pragmatism.

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Populism and the History of Popular Sovereignty

Cited by 41 publications

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Sovereignist wine in populist bottles? An introduction

Sovereignist wine in populist bottles? An introduction

The ‘Will of the People’: The Populist Challenge to Democracy in the Name of Popular Sovereignty

The New Experts: Populism, Technocracy and Politics of Expertise in Contemporary India

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