Populism and Collective Memory
Journal Data
| Type | SOURCE_BOOK |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| ISBN-13 | 9780429275289 |
| Open Library | OL21653764W |
| Total publications | 10 |
| Coverage period | 2019 - 2019 |
| Language | EN |
| Cited by | 12 |
| Impact factor | 0.4 |
| h-index | 1 |
| i10-index | 1 |
Right-wing populism is a global phenomenon that challenges several pillars of liberal democracy, and it is often described as a dangerous political ideology because it resonates with the fascist idea of power in terms of anti-pluralism and lack of minorities’ protection. In Western Europe, many political actors are exploiting the fears and insecurities linked to globalization, economic crisis, and mass migrations to attract voters. However, while right-wing populist discourses are mainstream in certain countries, they are almost completely taboo in others. Why is right-wing populism so successful in Italy, Austria, and France while in Germany it is marginal and socially unacceptable? It is because each country developed a certain collective memory of the fascist past, which stigmatizes that past to different levels. For this reason, right-wing populism can find favorable conditions to thrive in certain countries, while in others it is considered as an illegitimate and dangerous idea of power. Through a comparative study of eight European countries, this book shows that short-term factors linked to levels of corruption, economic situation, and quality of democracy interact with long-term cultural elements and collective memories in determining the social acceptability of right-wing populist discourses
Populism, collective memory, and stigma of the fascist past
This chapter introduces the main conceptual novelty of the study: the idea that populism might be more or less legitimate in different countries because of cultural and historical reasons. Every country presents a certain political culture, which in turn legitimizes or stigmatizes different ideas of power. In particular, the collective memory of the fascist past is linked to the legitimacy of the populist idea of power. The chapter is structured …
Explaining populism “the usual way”
This analytical chapter aims at understanding which factors, or combination of factors, explain the different levels of populism’s social acceptability in different countries over time. The first section operationalizes and calibrates the three outcomes: overall populism, right-wing populism, and left-wing populism. The same process is followed for the four conditions: corruption, accountability and responsiveness, ideological convergence of the …
Taxonomy of a chameleon
Chapter 1 illustrates the development of populism in history, showing the many possible typologies of populist movements, parties, and actors from Ancient Greece to the Occupy movements. The aim of the chapter is to explain what populism is, to illustrate the role of concepts such as ‘the elite’ and ‘the people,’ and to provide a definition that reduces the complexity of populism to a common denominator. Populism, following an ideational approach…
Conclusions
Fascism tout court might no longer be an acceptable ideology, and political parties describing themselves as neo-fascist usually remain at the margins of the political debate, but populism can reintroduce crypto-fascist ideas of power by formally adopting democratic elements. In Western Europe, left-wing populism will avoid social stigma and constitute a credible alternative as long as it will protect the rule of law and all the informal norms th…
Methodology
This chapter illustrates the operationalization of populism and its measurement through a process of semi-automated content analysis. Moreover, it explains and justifies several key elements of this study such as the case selection, the period examined, and the criteria for the selection of party manifestos. The percentage of populist statements in party manifestos is then combined with two additional elements in order to determine the degree of …
Collective memory and fascist legacies in Western Europe
This chapter assigns to each country a type of collective memory and possibly one or more secondary narratives. This is done by analyzing the relevant secondary literature on each country’s collective memory of the fascist past. Potential secondary narratives and disagreement among sources are taken into consideration, and eventually the levels of stigmatization of the fascist past are assigned to each country. Moreover, it is important to observ…
The effect of fascist legacies on populism
This chapter introduces into the model a novel condition: the levels of stigma attached to the fascist past . The results show that fascist legacies explain with greater precision the social acceptability of populism, in particular its right-wing articulation, while left-wing populism’s social acceptability remains unexplained. Compared to Chapter 7 , the results produced make it possible to conclude that fascist legacies, especially in combinati…
Populism in eight West European countries since the 1970s
This chapter presents the results of the content analysis. It illustrates the trend for the presence of populism in party manifestos in eight European countries from the 1970s to now. Moreover, it disentangles left- and right-wing variants of populism. Finally, it describes each country in detail, explaining which party manifestos articulate populist discourses, and discussing whether the findings are in line with the literature on the topic. The…
The natural habitat of populism
This chapter explores the relevant literature in order to produce a set of socio-economic and political-institutional conditions that are supposed to explain why populist discourses are more socially acceptable in certain countries than in others. The first section illustrates the theoretical framework linking the presence of populism to large-scale processes such as modernization and globalization. The second section illustrates and discusses th…
Populism and Collective Memory
Right-wing populism is a global phenomenon that challenges several pillars of liberal democracy, and it is often described as a dangerous political ideology because it resonates with the fascist idea of power in terms of anti-pluralism and lack of minorities’ protection. In Western Europe, many political actors are exploiting the fears and insecurities linked to globalization, economic crisis, and mass migrations to attract voters. However, while…
Populism and Collective Memory
Right-wing populism is a global phenomenon that challenges several pillars of liberal democracy, and it is often described as a dangerous political ideology because it resonates with the fascist idea of power in terms of anti-pluralism and lack of minorities’ protection. In Western Europe, many political actors are exploiting the fears and insecurities linked to globalization, economic crisis, and mass migrations to attract voters. However, while…
Populism, collective memory, and stigma of the fascist past
This chapter introduces the main conceptual novelty of the study: the idea that populism might be more or less legitimate in different countries because of cultural and historical reasons. Every country presents a certain political culture, which in turn legitimizes or stigmatizes different ideas of power. In particular, the collective memory of the fascist past is linked to the legitimacy of the populist idea of power. The chapter is structured …
Explaining populism “the usual way”
This analytical chapter aims at understanding which factors, or combination of factors, explain the different levels of populism’s social acceptability in different countries over time. The first section operationalizes and calibrates the three outcomes: overall populism, right-wing populism, and left-wing populism. The same process is followed for the four conditions: corruption, accountability and responsiveness, ideological convergence of the …
Taxonomy of a chameleon
Chapter 1 illustrates the development of populism in history, showing the many possible typologies of populist movements, parties, and actors from Ancient Greece to the Occupy movements. The aim of the chapter is to explain what populism is, to illustrate the role of concepts such as ‘the elite’ and ‘the people,’ and to provide a definition that reduces the complexity of populism to a common denominator. Populism, following an ideational approach…
Conclusions
Fascism tout court might no longer be an acceptable ideology, and political parties describing themselves as neo-fascist usually remain at the margins of the political debate, but populism can reintroduce crypto-fascist ideas of power by formally adopting democratic elements. In Western Europe, left-wing populism will avoid social stigma and constitute a credible alternative as long as it will protect the rule of law and all the informal norms th…
Methodology
This chapter illustrates the operationalization of populism and its measurement through a process of semi-automated content analysis. Moreover, it explains and justifies several key elements of this study such as the case selection, the period examined, and the criteria for the selection of party manifestos. The percentage of populist statements in party manifestos is then combined with two additional elements in order to determine the degree of …
Collective memory and fascist legacies in Western Europe
This chapter assigns to each country a type of collective memory and possibly one or more secondary narratives. This is done by analyzing the relevant secondary literature on each country’s collective memory of the fascist past. Potential secondary narratives and disagreement among sources are taken into consideration, and eventually the levels of stigmatization of the fascist past are assigned to each country. Moreover, it is important to observ…
The effect of fascist legacies on populism
This chapter introduces into the model a novel condition: the levels of stigma attached to the fascist past . The results show that fascist legacies explain with greater precision the social acceptability of populism, in particular its right-wing articulation, while left-wing populism’s social acceptability remains unexplained. Compared to Chapter 7 , the results produced make it possible to conclude that fascist legacies, especially in combinati…
Populism in eight West European countries since the 1970s
This chapter presents the results of the content analysis. It illustrates the trend for the presence of populism in party manifestos in eight European countries from the 1970s to now. Moreover, it disentangles left- and right-wing variants of populism. Finally, it describes each country in detail, explaining which party manifestos articulate populist discourses, and discussing whether the findings are in line with the literature on the topic. The…
The natural habitat of populism
This chapter explores the relevant literature in order to produce a set of socio-economic and political-institutional conditions that are supposed to explain why populist discourses are more socially acceptable in certain countries than in others. The first section illustrates the theoretical framework linking the presence of populism to large-scale processes such as modernization and globalization. The second section illustrates and discusses th…
Populism and Collective Memory
Right-wing populism is a global phenomenon that challenges several pillars of liberal democracy, and it is often described as a dangerous political ideology because it resonates with the fascist idea of power in terms of anti-pluralism and lack of minorities’ protection. In Western Europe, many political actors are exploiting the fears and insecurities linked to globalization, economic crisis, and mass migrations to attract voters. However, while…