Political Economy

Session: G12(b) - Deconsolidation Panels: The New Populist Right II

Date: Jun 1, 2017 | Time: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location: VIC-305 (Victoria Building)| iOS / Outlook

Chair/Président: Paul Kellogg (Athabasca University)

Discussant/Commentateur: Paul Kellogg (Athabasca University)

Participants & Authors/Auteurs:

Sedef Arat-Koç (Ryerson University) : Class, “Culture” and Geopolitics in the New Populism in Turkey”: From “Passive Revolution” to a Turkish-Islamic “One-Nation” Project
Abstract: The paper traces and analyses the trajectory of the politics of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) from its earlier, more expansive and pluralist hegemonic project to a sectarian-nationalist “one nation” populism. Whereas the former has been characterized as a “passive revolution” (Tuğal), involving the absorption of “moderate Islamism” into capitalism and mainstream structures of the Turkish state; the latter has involved increasingly exclusionary tendencies to define “authentic nationhood” through a conservative and sectarian Turkish-Islamic nativism. Growing out of the inability to deliver the promises of the its former project and inability to address the political ramifications of this failure, AKP populism has necessarily involved increasing authoritarianism and fascistic discourses and practices as it has required extensive social and political engineering to construct the “nationals” it claims to represent; and to suppress and silence the “anti-nationals”. In addition to local/national elements, the paper locates the analysis of AKP’s new populism in regional and global geopolitics. Particularly relevant here is “neo-Ottomanism” as a project that combines cultural revivalism with Turkish bourgeois interests and nationalist ideology/aspirations for regional leadership in the Middle East. Akin to BJP’s populism in India, AKP’s populism represents a form of “rising power populism” (Sundar), but one where frustrated regional ambitions in recent years are leading to increased militarism.

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Aparna Sundar ( Azim Premji University) : Rising Power” Populisms of the Global South: The Hindu Right in India
Abstract: In October 2016, “Hindus for Trump” put on an event in New Jersey at which Donald Trump spoke during his campaign. The symbols and sentiments displayed at the event make evident the affinities between his politics and that of the Hindu nationalists in India, and point to the importance of applying a systemic lens to the authoritarian and revanchist populisms arising across the world. Yet, as this paper attempts to show, inasmuch as the Indian case is illustrative of affinities between various right wing populisms, it also raises questions about differences in etiology and temporality, and the “newness” of such politics within their domestic contexts. More importantly, it asks that we attend to divergent structural locations within the global system, and recognize the complex mixture of grievances and aspirations shaping the “rising power” populisms of the Global South. Regularly taken to task by the “international community” on issues such as poverty and corruption, the Indian leadership simultaneously asserts aggrieved anti-colonialism and great nation ambition in forums such as the BRICS and G20. Its internal class base is tied to this: the BJP’s platform of cultural chauvinism and economic development speaks to both the struggling petty bourgeoisie and the rising middle classes; unlike in Europe and North America, some of its most devoted supporters are not those excluded from the benefits of globalization, but those gaining from it, often young, social media savvy, and upwardly mobile.

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Oliver Schmidtke (University of Victoria) : Anti-immigrant Nationalism: The Discursive Roots of Right-wing Populist Mobilization in Europe
Abstract: Over the past two decades, right wing populism has become a stable feature in most European countries. Yet, with the unfolding refugee crisis in Europe, the populist right has gained a new level of popularity and respectability in European competitive party politics. Most notably, the UK Independence Party is increasingly challenging the traditional dominance of the Labour and Conservative parties in British politics critically shaping the fate of the Brexit referendum, the Front National under the new leadership of Marine Le Pen is poised to become a serious contender in the upcoming presidential elections in France, and the Alternative for Germany is threatening Germany’s post-war consensus to ban right-wing parties from representation in federal parliament. The basic hypothesis of my paper is that, beyond national particularities, there is a common denominator spurring the political mobilization of these actors. Based on an analysis of party representatives’ speeches, party platforms and electoral campaign material, the paper will identify key discursive strategies employed to give credibility to parties that claim to represent the authentic “voice of the people” and whose mobilization is driven by anti-elitist, anti-immigrant sentiments. In the European context right-wing populist parties have successfully used a nationalist rhetoric that discursively links a nationalist backlash against the project of European integration with an aggressive mobilization of xenophobic attitudes towards migrants.

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Antonio Torres-Ruiz (York University) : Populism and Democratization in Latin America: A Geo-Politico-Economic Perspective
Abstract: The following paper draws lessons from Latin America, by critically revisiting populism and democratization. This is part of a larger project that, on the one hand, identifies some of the blind spots in the democratic theory’s literature and, on the other, attempts to (re)establish the relevance of political science to diverse and interconnected political realities and practices. In addressing the impact of populism on democracy’s consolidation or “deconsolidation,” globally, this paper aims at refocusing our attention as political scientists on some of the epistemic weaknesses within our discipline. For instance, whereas most analyses tend to define the Latin American region as being the locus of several populist and authoritarian regimes (from right to left of the political spectrum), I would argue, based on Ernesto Laclau’s analysis, that it is imperative and illuminating to distinguish between populist movements, parties, or regimes and populist “moments” or “moves.” Furthermore, traditionally, when discussing populism, the focus has largely been on local factors, however, I will contend that - both historically and in the present moment – continental and global geo-politico-economic circumstances and actors significantly explain the (re)emergence of populism. A case in point is the recently held referendum in Colombia to ratify the signed peace agreement between the government and the left-wing guerrillas (FARC). Its failure was due in part to the strong opposition to it, which was led by former president Victor Uribe and based on a right-wing populist rhetoric that responds to more than just domestic factors.

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