Public Sphere and World-System: Theorizing Populism at the Margins

Abstract

Books and journals, open access & print www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk Welcome to the latest catalogue of the University of Westminster Press, an academic open access publisher since 2015. Our logo, an open laptop and an open book forming a W, was intended as a succinct comment and a visual representation of our mission. For UWP the most signficant development in the last year has been the addition of three new journal titles: the first, Anthropocenes -Human, Inhuman, Posthuman (p.34) an interdisciplinary title of great range tackling some of the big questions of our age including climate change, species extinction and latterly Covid-19. Likewise we are delighted to welcome the Journal of Deliberative Democracy (p.32). As populism surges across the world, the need for democratic legitimacy and real engagement continues to grow. JDD's August 2020 relaunch with UWP highlights key debates in participative democracy and public deliberation and considers how new insights might assist politics grapple with mounting challenges. We also look forward, later in the year to the first issue of Active Travel Studies (p.31). Healthier and more environmentally conscious transport is the focus of the journal's parent research body, the Active Travel Academy at the University of Westminster. Also during this period two of our existing journals Silk Road (p.36) and Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (p.38) are now presented in a new research environment that of ScienceOpen. We welcome ScienceOpen and other new channels assisting readers in discovering our publications. UWP book titles remain available via JSTOR (www.jstor.org) and OAPEN (www.oapen.org), as MARC-21 records for libraries are also now available to download from our home page. Book trade orders and customers can also be set up via an account with Ingrams at www.ingramcontent.com/publishers/lp/introducingipage. This 2020 catalogue features three forthcoming books in the Critical Digital and Social Media Studies series (pp.4-17) -two focusing on the 'Commons' -in Autumn on top of a total of 30 published book titles, 7 CAMRI Policy Briefs (pp.21-23] and the distributed titles in the the History of the 'University of Westminster' series. One undoubted highlight in 2020 will be Can Music Make You Sick? (p. 18) Sadly the answer to this question appears to be 'yes' for musicians, whose mental health is facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the gig economy, streaming and currently a cessation of the festival season and most live events. Spreadheading a new wave of publications challenging some of the benign assumptions of previous creative industries literature, this title is sure to contribute to an urgent debate in the field. So we hope there's plenty to engage you in the following pages!.

The Society of the Selfie: Social Media and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy

“…However, the massification of radio in the region occurred only in the 1930s under the aegis of its political uses, for example, with Getúlio Vargas in Brazil and the populist regime of Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico (Haussen 2001). With mass communication technologies, capitalist modernizing moves rearranged the public sphere and empowered the masses with a politicized culture and promises of a new protagonism (Morelock and Narita 2018b). At the same time, these technologies and their effects constituted and facilitated new forms of domination and a structural transformation of politics and culture in the twentieth century (Pavlik 1996;Hyden et al 2002;Oswald 2009).…”

Authoritarian Populism in Indonesia: The Role of the Political Campaign Industry in Engineering Consent and Coercion

“…Such a process, we posit, fleshes out what Morelock and Narita (2018) mention as the structural problem of politically representing the "people," as the "people" are inherently divided in their sets of interests. Rather than addressing this structural problem, the alliance between political campaigners and the elite take advantage of it.…”

“…The "ummah" too, is pitted against supporters of a "new elite," receiving the support of big political parties. Morelock and Narita (2018) discussed that in the attempt for proper theorising of populism, we must take into account its manifestations in countries other than the West, where the "people" are narratively constructed against the narratively constructed "elite." In the case of Indonesia's elections, we can see how racialised and pious people (the "indigenous ummah" and the "pluralist") are narratively constructed to align with differently racialised and pious sections of the elite.…”

Unlimited Capitalism and the Politics of the Common: Review of Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval’s Commun: essai sur la revolution au XXIe siècle

“…The threat to democratic procedures, the rise of ultra-nationalist mass mobilizations and the polarization of social space into reified moral narratives (anti-establishment rhetoric, we/they, "the people", etc.) (Morelock and Narita 2018) illustrate a new moment of right-wing populism and its authoritarian drifts. The general discourse of crisis, like the sword of Damocles, hangs over our heads.…”