Post-populism in Zambia

Michael Sata’s rise, demise and legacy

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6299255
AutoresAlastair Fraser (0000-0003-2819-6474, SOAS University of London, autor correspondente)
Ano2017
Volume38
Fascículo4
Páginas456-472
Data de publicação2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0192-5121 • E-ISSN: 1460-373X
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0192512117720809
OpenAlexW2751785757
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas27
Referências citadas16

Models explaining populism as a policy response to the interests of the urban poor struggle to understand the instability of populist mobilisations. A focus on political theatre is more helpful. This article extends the debate on populist performance, showing how populists typically do not produce rehearsed performances to passive audiences. In drawing ‘the people’ on stage they are forced to improvise. As a result, populist performances are rarely sustained. The article describes the Zambian Patriotic Front’s (PF) theatrical insurrection in 2006 and its evolution over the next decade. The PF’s populist aspect had faded by 2008 and gradually disappeared in parallel with its leader Michael Sata’s ill-health and eventual death in 2014. The party was nonetheless electorally successful. The article accounts for this evolution and describes a ‘post-populist’ legacy featuring of hyper-partisanship, violence and authoritarianism. Intolerance was justified in the populist moment as a reflection of anger at inequality; it now floats free of any programme

Authoritarianism · Demise · Democracy · Political economy · Political radicalism · Political science · Politics · Populism · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements