scholarly journals ‘We the People’: Demarcating the Demos in Populist Mobilization—The Case of the Italian Lega

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 351
Author(s):  
Oliver Schmidtke

This article is a theoretically guided and empirically based analysis of how populist movements invoke the notion of the ‘people’ as a cornerstone of their political mobilization. While the confrontation between the virtuous ‘people’ and the unresponsive elites speaks to how populism challenges established political actors and institutions, the actual meaning of who the ‘people’ are and what they represent is shifting and often driven by strategic considerations. Analytically the article investigates the distinct ways in which nationalism and populism conceptualize and politically mobilize the notion of the ‘people’. Empirically it focuses on the Italian League and engages in a discourse analysis of its political campaigns over the past 30 years. Based on this textual analysis of political campaigns, the article sheds light on how the reference to the ‘people’ has been employed as this political actor has transformed from a regionalist party advocating for autonomy in Northern Italy to one taking up the role of a populist-nationalist party at the national level. This case study allows the author to make a generalizable hypothesis about the nature of identity politics promoted by populist actors and the way in which the invocation of the ‘people’ and their alleged enemies is a pivotal political narrative that opens and restricts opportunities for political mobilization. This interpretative approach also allows for a more concise conceptual understanding of the affinity that right-wing populists demonstrate toward nativist ideologies.

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312199133
Author(s):  
Christina Holtz-Bacha

With the surge of populism in Europe, public service broadcasting has come under increased pressure. The established media are considered part of the corrupt elite not serving the interests of the people. The public service media, for which pluralism is at the core of their remit, are a particular thorn in the side of the populists. Therefore, they attack the financial basis of public service, which is supposed to guarantee their independence. The populist attacks on the traditional broadcasting corporations meet with the interests of neoliberal politics and of those political actors who want to evade public scrutiny and democratic control and do no longer feel committed to democratic accountability. The assaults on the public service media are thus an assault on freedom of the media and further increase the pressure on the democratic system.


Matrizes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Omar Rincón

The discourses and agendas of the twentieth century are no longer useful in explaining the changes of our time. It is difficult to explain this zombie society – of living dead people in consumption, far from politics and humanism; with media disconnected from the people and converted into political actors; a capitalism that rewards social injustice and cynicism; a system of justice that is increasingly right-wing and follows the god of capital. For this new world, we need to raise different discourses and concepts. This is what the article is about: finding ways from which communication has been thought in Latin America, looking again at Martín-Barbero’s nighttime maps, developing ideas about the mutation of communication.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agneta Fischer ◽  
Charlotte Brands ◽  
David Abadi

When it comes to political communication on social media, Facebook has arisen as one of the most important platforms. Recent research on populist discourses provides evidence for populist ideology fragments emerging across Facebook posts. Moreover, the level of populist language styles and the adoption of typical populist rhetoric appears to be ‘endemic' across political actors across the whole political spectrum, even among non-populist ones. In total, 51 posts from Geert Wilders were analyzed before and 71 in the period after the 2019 Dutch elections (N = 122). This study tackles the use of the founding elements of populist communication strategies: references to the people, references to the elites, and references to the others. For a populist leader, Wilders’ Facebook posts do not contain many references to the people. Instead, he focuses on the elites (e.g., the EU) and on the others (e.g., Muslims or asylum seekers). The clearest difference between the pre- and post-election period seems to be that Wilders gradually changes his populist communication strategies from a focus on the elites, to a focus on the others. In doing so, he uses more references to religion and blaming the others. He also refers more to people within the country (asylum seekers and immigrants) in the post-election period (36,6%) than in the pre-election period (23,5%). His posts show clear examples of populist nativism, while he paints a picture of a battle between the Netherlands and the EU (the elites), Muslims or asylum seekers (the others).


Koneksi ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 358
Author(s):  
Laylia Farida ◽  
Muhammad Gafar Yoedtadi

2019 is one of the years which is considered quite a sense for the people of Indonesia, this year the presidential and vice presidential elections reunite Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto as presidential candidates. During the 2019 presidential election campaign, the issue of identity politics strengthened in the community. Political actors often use an identity to attract the attention and support of potential voters. The media which are supposed to be independent are actually trapped in the issue of identity politics. Reporting on online media is often influenced by the ideology and interests of media that are reflected in the framing of the news carried out by that media. This Study aims to describe the framing carried out by medcom.id in reporting the 2019 presidential election campaign. This study uses a qualitative approach with framing analysis from Robert N. Entman. The results of this study indicate that medcom.id is proven to be framing using identity politics in reporting the 2019 presidential election campaign. Identity politics framing conducted by medcom.id is news containing SARA (Ethnicity, Religion, Ancestry, and Group of People)Tahun 2019 merupakan salah satu tahun politik yang dinilai cukup panas bagi masyarakat Indonesia, pada tahun ini pemilihan presiden dan wakil presiden kembali mempertemukan Joko Widodo dan Prabowo Subianto sebagai calon presiden. Pada kampanye Pilpres 2019 kemarin, isu politik identitas menguat di masyarakat. Para aktor politik sering kali menggunakan sebuah identitas untuk menarik perhatian serta dukungan calon pemilihnya di masyarakat. Media yang seharusnya independen justru terjebak dalam isu politik identitas tersebut. Pemberitaan pada media online seringkali dipengaruhi oleh ideologi dan kepentingan pemilik media yang tergambar pada pembingkaian berita yang dilakukan oleh media tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan pembingkaian yang dilakukan oleh portal berita media online medcom.id dalam memberitakan kampanye pemilihan presiden 2019. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan analisis framing Robert N. Entman. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa medcom.id terbukti melakukan pembingkaian dengan menggunakan politik identitas dalam pemberitaan kampanye Pilpres 2019. Pembingkaian politik identitas yang dilakukan oleh medcom.id adalah pemberitaan yang mengandung SARA (suku, agama, ras dan antar golongan).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agneta Fischer ◽  
Charlotte Brands ◽  
David Abadi

When it comes to political communication on social media, Facebook has arisen as one of the most important platforms. Recent research on populist discourses provides evidence for populist ideology fragments emerging across Facebook posts. Moreover, the level of populist language styles and the adoption of typical populist rhetoric appears to be ‘endemic' across political actors across the whole political spectrum, even among non-populist ones. In total, 51 posts from Geert Wilders were analyzed before and 71 in the period after the 2019 Dutch elections (N = 122). This study tackles the use of the founding elements of populist communication strategies: references to the people, references to the elites, and references to the others. For a populist leader, Wilders’ Facebook posts do not contain many references to the people. Instead, he focuses on the elites (e.g., the EU) and on the others (e.g., Muslims or asylum seekers). The clearest difference between the pre- and post-election period seems to be that Wilders gradually changes his populist communication strategies from a focus on the elites, to a focus on the others. In doing so, he uses more references to religion and blaming the others. He also refers more to people within the country (asylum seekers and immigrants) in the post-election period (36,6%) than in the pre-election period (23,5%). His posts show clear examples of populist nativism, while he paints a picture of a battle between the Netherlands and the EU (the elites), Muslims or asylum seekers (the others).


Author(s):  
Wendy J. Schiller ◽  
Charles Stewart III

From 1789 to 1913, U.S. senators were not directly elected by the people—instead the Constitution mandated that they be chosen by state legislators. This radically changed in 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving the public a direct vote. This book investigates the electoral connections among constituents, state legislators, political parties, and U.S. senators during the age of indirect elections. The book finds that even though parties controlled the partisan affiliation of the winning candidate for Senate, they had much less control over the universe of candidates who competed for votes in Senate elections and the parties did not always succeed in resolving internal conflict among their rank and file. Party politics, money, and personal ambition dominated the election process, in a system originally designed to insulate the Senate from public pressure. The book uses an original data set of all the roll call votes cast by state legislators for U.S. senators from 1871 to 1913 and all state legislators who served during this time. Newspaper and biographical accounts uncover vivid stories of the political maneuvering, corruption, and partisanship—played out by elite political actors, from elected officials, to party machine bosses, to wealthy business owners—that dominated the indirect Senate elections process. The book raises important questions about the effectiveness of Constitutional reforms, such as the Seventeenth Amendment, that promised to produce a more responsive and accountable government.


2020 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 656-676
Author(s):  
Igor V. Omeliyanchuk

The article examines the main forms and methods of agitation and propagandistic activities of monarchic parties in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century. Among them the author singles out such ones as periodical press, publication of books, brochures and flyers, organization of manifestations, religious processions, public prayers and funeral services, sending deputations to the monarch, organization of public lectures and readings for the people, as well as various philanthropic events. Using various forms of propagandistic activities the monarchists aspired to embrace all social groups and classes of the population in order to organize all-class and all-estate political movement in support of the autocracy. While they gained certain success in promoting their ideology, the Rights, nevertheless, lost to their adversaries from the radical opposition camp, as the monarchists constrained by their conservative ideology, could not promise immediate social and political changes to the population, and that fact was excessively used by their opponents. Moreover, the ideological paradigm of the Right camp expressed in the “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality” formula no longer agreed with the social and economic realities of Russia due to modernization processes that were underway in the country from the middle of the 19th century.


Author(s):  
Lisel Hintz

This chapter introduces the book’s aim of turning the concept of identity politics inside out. It presents Turkey as an empirical window onto these dynamics, familiarizing readers with puzzling shifts in domestic politics and foreign policy that do not correspond to shifts in geopolitical dynamics, international economic conditions, or the coming to power of a new party. For example, after the AKP made progress toward EU membership in its first term, the party’s subsequent terms witnessed a sharp reorientation of Turkey, a traditional Western ally, toward the Middle East. This period also demonstrates a rise in “Ottomania”—reviled until recently as delusions of imperial Islamic grandeur—which now permeates everything from pop culture to political campaigns. How was such a drastic reorientation of Turkey possible under the AKP? This introduction lays out how the book solves this puzzle by turning identity politics inside out and outlines the structure of the book.


Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny

This chapter addresses India’s more recent experience of populism at the national level. While India has avoided a return to authoritarianism since the Emergency, populism has been a recurrent feature of Indian politics. The persistence of divided party rule between the national and subnational levels has meant an uneasy tension between two different modes of political mobilization for national office. National–subnational coalitions based on the distribution of pork have undergirded several Congress party governments. However, such coalitions remain inherently unstable given the autonomy of India’s subnational unit, and they are vulnerable to outflanking by populist appeals over the heads of state governments. The electoral success of the BJP under Modi in 2014 illustrates the appeal of populist mobilization in a vertically fragmented patronage-based system.


Author(s):  
James Retallack

In the period 1894 to 1902 Saxons demonstrated that the expansion of voting rights could be slowed and actually reversed. This chapter shows how right-wing politicians, statesmen, municipal councilors, and others used a perceived crisis following political assassinations in mid-1894 to refocus middle-class fears on the “threat” of socialism. At the national level, calls for a coup d’état against the Reichstag dovetailed with less dramatic calls to action against Social Democracy. When these appeals yielded meager results, Saxons responded by passing a reform of their Landtag’s suffrage in 1896: it replaced a relatively equitable system with unequal three-class voting. Socialists disappeared from the Landtag, and the Reichstag elections of 1898 were unexciting. In the period 1898–1902 Saxon Conservatism reached the zenith of its power. But Social Democratic outrage over “suffrage robbery” had already planted the seeds of a political reversal.


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