Populism versus Technocracy? Populist Responses to the Technocratic Nature of the EU

Reiser, Marion; Hebenstreit, Jörg

doi:10.17645/pag.v8i4.3361

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(54 reference statements)

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“…In contrast to the decision making by the people or by democratically elected political elites, technocracy can be understood as expert-driven decision-making (Bertsou & Pastorella, 2017;Reiser & Hebenstreit, 2020). Its legitimacy thus rests on 'competence, expertise, neutrality, and efficiency' (Bertsou & Caramani, 2020).…”

Section: Conspiracy Belief and Different Conceptualizations Of Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid-19 Conspiracy Belief and Conceptualizations of Democracy

Reiser¹,

Küppers²

2022

Preprint

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Although conspiracy theories moved to the center of the public debate during the Covid-19 pandemic and have severe consequences on politics and society, the link between Covid-19 conspiracy beliefs and democracy has hardly been scrutinized. By combining the literature on understandings and conceptualizations of democracy and the literature on upward conspiracy theories, we thus ask whether citizens who believe in Covid-19 conspiracy theories have a specific conceptualization of democracy. Using data from a representative survey conducted in the East German region of Thuringia in summer 2021 and by employing a fine-grained measure of attributes of democracy, we show that Covid-19 conspiracy belief is neither significantly associated with support for the idea of democracy nor with support for non-democratic forms of government. Instead, our findings indicate that Covid-19 conspiracy believers have a particular understanding of democracy in which power is to be taken away from the political elites of representative democracy and more control is given to citizens.

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Section: Conspiracy Belief and Different Conceptualizations Of Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid-19 Conspiracy Belief and Conceptualizations of Democracy

Reiser¹,

Küppers²

2022

Preprint

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“…Most likely, we could not find another concept that has been given that much space in comparative political science worldwide in the last at least 10 years (Meijers and Zaslove, 2021; Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, 2018; Rooduijn, 2019; Zulianello, 2020). Populism is also discussed in relation to several other concepts, such as nativism (Mudde, 2007), Euroscepticism (Pirro and Taggart, 2018), technocratism (Reiser and Hebenstreit, 2020), anti-elitism (Iakhnis et al, 2018), and so on. Although these are principles that often coexist with populism in political practice, they are based on different foundations and cannot be confused (Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, 2018; Rooduijn, 2019).…”

Section: Populism and Pirate Parties – A Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Let us blow them down!’: Corruption as the subject of (non-)populist communication of the Czech Pirate Party

Naxera

2021

Politics

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The issue of the relationship between pirate parties and populism has not yet been adequately resolved. This article aims to answer this question: Regarding its communication, is it possible to classify the Czech Pirate Party as a populist party? For that purpose, the Pirates’ communication has been contextualized in a comparative perspective with the Czech parties ANO and SPD, which are commonly considered populist. The study uses qualitative and quantitative content analysis and the principle of triplets to measure populism. Among other things, the analysis indicates that the level of populism in the communication of the Pirates is negligible and the party cannot be identified as populist. Moreover, the anti-establishment appeal does not prevail in the communication either. In this respect, however, the communication of the Pirates has significantly changed after entering the Parliament.

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“…Analysis of publications. The perils of unrestrained technocratic government have already been covered in a number of publications, including: (Reiser & Hebenstreit, 2020), (Esmark, 2020), (Easterly, 2019), (Berman, 2018), (Bickerton & Accetti, 2015), (Habermas, 2015), (Bucchi, 2009), (Centeno, 1993). Among older publications, which still contain valuable insights into the topic, is: (Temple, 1944).…”

Section: грані том 24 № 4 2021 політологіяmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technocracy as a challenge to political freedom in the digital age

Laniuk

2021

STAG

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The government of the former Prime-Minister of Ukraine Olexiy Honcharuk named itself “the government of technocrats”. This shows that the concept of technocracy becomes attractive in Ukraine. Technocracy is the form of government, which attempts to distance itself from political representation or affiliation with a particular ideology. Technocrats derive their legitimacy from their skills and expertise, and focus primarily on problem-solving and optimizing the society’s useful functions. Technocracy has always been a promising political concept. The Republic by Plato can be regarded as the first attempt to substantiate a technocratic society, in which power proceeds from the expertise of its dominant elite. Technocracy was very appealing in the industrial age, when scientific management of factories inspired the idea that society at large could be governed by similar methods. Today, digital technologies and Big Data reinvigorate the technocratic project. In this article it has been shown that technocracy, if taken too far, can be antithetical to liberal democracy and its core value – political freedom. Technocratic society resembles a corporation run by the board of directors rather than a republic of citizens. We have pointed out the factors, which make it appealing in the modern world. We then have analyzed the ideas of Howard Scott, the founder of the movement Technocracy Inc., who advocated this political model in the industrial age, and Parag Khanna, who has made similar claims about the benefits of technocracy in the digital age. It has been proven that both these thinkers share the same illiberal mindset including the common faith in the applicability of scientific methods of social management without regard for popular votes and opinions, admiration of autocratic powers of the day, and disregard for democratic procedures, which they see as hurdles on the path toward economic well-being and political domination. Finally, we asked the question: if the challenge to political freedom in Ukraine proceeds from technocracy, will it be defended in the same way as during the three Ukrainian Maidans (1990, 2004, 2014)? We deliberately leave this question unanswered, hoping that the answer will be investigated in future publications.

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Populism versus Technocracy? Populist Responses to the Technocratic Nature of the EU

Cited by 11 publications

References 41 publications

Covid-19 Conspiracy Belief and Conceptualizations of Democracy

Covid-19 Conspiracy Belief and Conceptualizations of Democracy

‘Let us blow them down!’: Corruption as the subject of (non-)populist communication of the Czech Pirate Party

Technocracy as a challenge to political freedom in the digital age

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