Populism in the 21st Century
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- Published on Tuesday, 27 June 2017 23:15
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1440 .... June 28, 2017
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Populism in the 21st Century:
Class Struggle Returns to Haunt Capitalist Democracies
J. F. Conway
Populism: "any political movement which seeks
to mobilize the people... against a state which
is either controlled by vested interests or too powerful in itself."
--- Oxford Dictionary of Sociology
The term "populism" has returned to the daily vocabulary of political pundits and analysts trying to make sense of the recent seismic shifts in the politics of many capitalist democracies. For the most part the term is used loosely, with no definition to guide the reader. There was the "populism" behind the unexpected surges in support for Bernie Sanders in the U.S. primaries and for Jeremy Corbyn in the UK election. Then there was the "populism" at the... roots of the National Front’s Marine Le Pen winning a place in the final runoff of the French presidential election. And one cannot forget the "populism" of many angry white men pushing Trump over the top into the U.S. White House.
Commentators on the political scene in the established media typically use the term "populism" simplistically and pejoratively. This is a blind, thoughtless, and ill-conceived attack on decades of predictable stability in our democracies. There is a sense of imminent danger conveyed -- where will this upheaval lead? The consensus seems to be that populism is something to be feared and contained. It is irrational -- a modern expression of mob psychology. Often facile comparisons to the rise of Italian fascism and German Nazism are tentatively made.
Some commentators attempt a deeper analysis, aware that a simplistic notion of populism cannot account for the complexities of the phenomenon. Hence, there is the "left-wing populism" of Corbyn in the UK, Sanders in the U.S., and Mélenchon in France, and the "right-wing populism" of Trump in the U.S., the Independence Party in the UK, and Le Pen in France. Indeed, the two varieties of populism have emerged to become challengers to political orthodoxy in most European countries. Both left and right populism condemn neoliberalism and globalization for their terrible consequences for the underclasses. Both have little faith in the existing political system, and their base was previously largely disengaged from the electoral process. Both blame current élites for the troubles the people face and the hardships they endure.