The people in the ‘here and now’: Populism, modernization and the state in Greece

Abstract

Abstract:The term 'populism' has gained renewed prominence in Greece during the Eurozone crisis, in both public and academic debates. In this article I conceptualize populism as a discourse of territorial and temporal particularism, which challenges the way a state has been incorporated into the international political and economic system. Based on this definition, I question whether oppositional discourses employed by partisan actors or official power are wholesale and genuine expressions of populism. Thus, Icontest the notion that Greece failed due to populism. Instead I draw attention to a failure in the official legitimation of modernization by state elites that long preceded the crisis.

Populism, the International and Methodological Nationalism: Global Order and the Iran–Israel Nexus

“…The notion of populism continues to be contested (Albertazzi and McDonnell, 2015; Aslanidis, 2016; Hadiz and Chryssogelos, 2017; Moffitt, 2016; Műller, 2017; Stavrakakis and Jäger, 2017). Laclau (2002: 12–13) contends that it is ‘hopeless’ and ‘irrelevant’ to make a distinction between ideology and movements, as is evident in much populism scholarship, because in seeing populism as an ideology or movement, there will always be an ‘avalanche of exceptions’.…”

“…For instance, ‘the people’ is equated with ‘the oppressed’ or ‘underdogs’ in opposition to ‘the elite’, who is equated with ‘the oppressors’. Consequently, populism ‘melds different sources of dissatisfaction with elite power, where the ambitions of the relatively marginalized find common cause with the sufferings of those who are considerably more oppressed within the social hierarchy’ (Hadiz and Chryssogelos, 2017: 402). Populist discourse also assumes ‘a homogeneous notion of the people’ and de-emphasises ‘difference among the group on whose behalf they claim to speak’ (Lowndes, 2005: 146).…”

“…Global IR’s aim of transcending the distinction between the West and non-West and integrating area studies is, to a certain extent, evident in populism scholarship, a lot of which is based on in-depth knowledge of and long-term research on a locality. A global approach is also evident in the assertion of a comparative approach (Laclau, 2002: 5), especially one that encourages ‘a broader cross-regional perspective’ (Hadiz and Chryssogelos, 2017: 400; see also Dorraj and Dodson, 2009; Filc, 2011; Hadiz, 2014; Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2013). This is welcome because they do not assume that the character of populism can be reduced to a geographic identity, such as the ‘Third World’ in opposition to the ‘West’.…”

“…Doing Global IR includes recognising multiple forms of agency that embrace local constructions of global order, integrating the study of regions and area studies, and a having pluralistic universalism that recognises and respects diversity (Acharya, 2014a: 649). Notably, IR would benefit from embracing the existing comparative approach across regions evident in populism studies (see Hadiz and Chryssogelos, 2017) as it is indicative of a pluralistic universalism. It acknowledges similarities between populist agendas regardless of their location.…”

On the Edge of the South European Model: Familism, Business and State in Greece

“…analyses the theoretical and political postulates underlying this 'pejorative use of populism'. For a more complex account of populism in Greece, seeChryssogelos (2017). Finally,Xenakis (2013) points to the irrelevance of the trade-off between 'modernizers' and 'underdogs', as well as to the hiatus between the discourse and the practices of the 'self-identified modernizers'.…”