What is really Populism?

Political and conceptual analysis of the term "Populism", very fashionable in the political circles.

The concept of "populism"(or the adjective "populist") has entered the current political scene in a rapid and almost forced manner. This word, although assiduously used by politicians, the media or even ordinary citizens, does not seem to have a consensus definition and, therefore, its use can give rise to confusion.

The formulation and use of words with various meanings is a subject of interest for cultural and political psychology, and that is why we propose to delve into the guts of this ambiguous concept, which has come to be used (not always correctly) both to designate a xenophobic movement and to designate a xenophobic movement. both to designate a xenophobic movement such as Marine Le Pen's "Front National" or the PODEMOS party led by Pablo Iglesias..

What is "Populism"?

"Populism", understood as a political practice, is derived from the Latin word populus which, as can be easily deduced, means "people". people. Curiously enough, "democracy", formed from the Greek root of dêmos also means people. According to the sociologist Gérard Mauger[1], the concept of the people to which "democracy" refers is the civic body in the whole of a nation-state.. In contrast, the people referred to in "populism" can be interpreted in two different ways, both conceptions being based on different mental representations of reality. The first, the version corresponding to the conservative political prism, refers to ethnos rather than populus, where its main nuance resides in a logic of social Darwinism. Therefore, xenophobic and exclusionary logic, as if culture were something closed, well delimited and to a certain extent timeless; moreover, it seeks to criminalize a political class in power.

On the contrary, the second versionmore likely to be used by leftist political sectors, does not focus on social Darwinism, but considers the people as a whole, without differences except those involved in the class division. That is to say, according to this conception the people is the living body in which culture is developed, a confluence of singularities, a confluence of singularities, a confluence of singularities.a confluence of singularities impossible to encompass by a single explanatory framework. Politically, it is the people dispossessed by over-powered elites who try to mold the people according to their interests.

Populism and Podemos (Pablo Iglesias)

To these last two conceptualizations proposed by the French sociologist, one could add one whose use predominates lately in the discourses of certain political parties in the Kingdom of Spain. These characteristics could be added to the sociologist's two proposals. Populism", predominantly used to designate the political formation PODEMOS (argument used Popular Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), has a connotation somewhat different from the definitions proposed above and, therefore, certainly incorrect. The noun seems to denominate a political practice composed of fallacious arguments whose purpose is aimed at attracting a general electorate (the people) and, ultimately, of power.. This definition is closer to demagoguery, but the similarities with "populism" and the ease of mixing one with the other are striking.

On the other hand, Ernesto Laclau, Argentine political scientist and philosopher, suggests a definition that brings together the division between the two aforementioned visions:

"Populism is not a pejorative term. It is rather a neutral notion. Populism is a way of constructing politics. It plays the base against the top, the people against the elites, the mobilized masses against the fixed official institutions."

Differences between Populism and Demagogy

Understanding "populism" as a political practice that leads the interpretation of the problems towards those at the top, that is, against political-economic elites, does not lead inexorably to define a political discourse as fallacious (a widespread practice in the anti-PODEMOS argument). In fact, if we take this definition, "populism" as a fallacious political practice, we could call populist the vast majority of political parties in the Spanish range, just because they are subject to the logic of electoralism in a representative democracy.

On the contrary, populism", as a political practice aimed at appealing to the people against their elites, contributes to the political interventionism of the citizen who are (or should be), first and foremost (or should be), in the first instance, those directly responsible for a democracy. The cases of corruption, the politics of cultural confrontation, the cutbacks in the public sector... no longer leave room to think of another representation of reality outside the corruption of the current political system and those who perpetuate it.

Notes:

[1] Gérard Mauger is a French sociologist, research director at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France and deputy director of the Center for European Sociology (CSE).