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Populism(s) Galore: The Return of the Extremes in Contemporary Politics. Part I
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC16 Sociological Theory (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
Populism(s) galore. The Return of the Extremes in Contemporary Politico
Liberal democracy is challenged at the extremes of the political spectrum by the resurgence of populism. Claude Lefort claimed that democracy, as a symbolic regime, is marked by the dissolution of the markers of certitude. At one level, this dissolution appears a necessary condition for an open and openly dynamic society; but at another level, even a modicum of uncertainty can breed insecurity and a sense of crisis. Whether populism is a passive beneficiary of the crisis or an active agent that foments crises and divides societies into antagonistic camps, for those who live in countries, like Brazil, the UK or the US, that have gone over the edge, the question is not a merely an academic one. To understand the phenomenon and make sense of our times, a multidisciplinary, multi-national, comparative theoretical perspective that underscores the ideological, political, cultural, discursive, technological, legal economic vectors of the democratic recession is necessary.