Routledge Populism in Global Perspective: A Performative and Discursive Approach (Conceptualising Comparative Politics)

Pathbreaking theoretically and innovative in treatment, Populism in Global Perspective is a seminal addition to the literature on arguably the most controversial and fervently discussed topic in political science today. The book brings together established and rising stars in the field of populism studies, in an integrated set of theoretical and empirical studies centered on a discursive-performative notion of populism. Contributors argue that populist identification is relational and sociocultural, and demonstrate the importance of studying populism phenomenologically together with anti-populism. The truly global series of case studies of populism in the US, Western and Southern Europe, Latin America, South Africa, the Philippines, and Turkey achieves a deliberate balance of left and right instances of populism, including within regions, and of populism in government and opposition. Written in a style approachable to students and specialists alike, the volume provides a substantial foundation for current knowledge on the topic. Populism in Global Perspective is a must read for comparativists, political theorists, sociologists, area studies specialists, and all educated readers interested in populism worldwide. Review "This volume fills a major void in the study as of populism, as it pulls together different strands of scholarship that highlight populism’s socio-cultural and performative dimensions. The editors and other contributors build on the foundations of Laclau’s discursive approach to analyse the relational character of populist appeals, the cultural construction of populist identities, and the performative element in populist practices. The contributors illustrate the utility of these conceptual and theoretical insights through case studies of populism from around the world. This is an original and pathbreaking book, one that is sure to shape the agenda of populism studies for many years to come." Kenneth M. Roberts, Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government, Cornell University "Hitherto, even most sympathetic theories of populism have recoiled from the corporeality of populist politics. This wonderful volume does more than put empirical flesh on the bones of theoretical abstraction; it takes the flaunting fleshiness of populist politics as its starting point." William Mazzarella, Neukom Family Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago "One cannot understand contemporary politics without understanding populism, and this anthology offers a cornucopia of theoretical and empirical insights about the concept and its multiple and protean uses around the world. It is a scholarly achievement of the highest order." Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University "In the increasingly crowded space of populist studies, Populism in Global Perspective stands out as a pathbreaker: it inaugurates a post-Laclauian approach to populism. The authors take on board Laclau’s discourse-theoretical framework and move it in another direction by offering a refreshing sociological grounding to the formalistic arguments about empty signifiers, the leader, and the people. For the authors, the name of the leader is not empty but full of life, with multifaceted and contradictory meanings that allow for many different forms of identification: it is an overflowing signifier. They see no point in talking about the purity or goodness of the people because for them the populist plebs is an embodied, damaged, angry, unheard, unrepresented and emotionally charged actor. Theirs is a political argument. Populism is about a performative constitution of a people that have been wronged and want to do something about it. And unlike Laclau’s flirtation with a Jacobin view of the populist mobilization, the authors understand the staging of this wrong as an exercise in populist citizenship to challenge the institutional setting, either to replace it or to expand its democratic boundaries. These are the building bloc