Event overview
A public lecture on the promise and perils of populism in contemporary politics and culture
Political theorists like Margaret Canovan, Jaques Rancière, Andreas Kalyvas, and Ernesto Laclau contrasted everyday routine administrative politics with the exceptional moments of the political that aimed to reconfigure constitutional and institutional arrangements. For Laclau populism is subversive of the existing state of thing and the starting point for a new order.
Building on past and current experiences of populism, this presentation makes three arguments. First, whereas populist movements seeking power promise to democratize society by challenging the legitimacy of exclusionary institutions, populist governments often include the excluded at the cost of disfiguring democracy. Second, during populist events the meanings of the ambiguous term ‘the people’ are disputed. When social movements are weak, and when the institutions of liberal democracy are discredited, a populist leader could attempt to become the embodiment of the will of the people. Third, even though the concept of the people is central to populism, it could be constructed differently. It could be imagined as heterogeneous and plural, or as the people-as-one, as an entity that shares one identity and interest that could be embodied in a leader.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Sep 2016 | 4:00pm - 6:00pm |
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