Populism has lately experienced a meteoric rise to become one of the most widely used terms in academic and wider public discourses and a supposedly defining feature of both domestic and world politics. Situated at the intersection of International Relations (IR), Political Theory and Comparative Politics, this book makes a critical intervention into the burgeoning IR scholarship on populism and problematizes the often hyperbolic and sweeping usage of the term as a general descriptor for non-centrist politics of different persuasions. The book seeks to move into a different theoretical direction and broaden the empirical focus of existing IR research. Theoretically, it bridges the gap between theories of populism and IR by bringing the Laclauian, discursive approach and IR poststructuralism together in a theoretical framework. The proposed framework moves away from the search for the policy preferences and impact of populism, and instead conceptualizes foreign policy and world politics as potential sites for practicing populism, ranging from the articulation of societal grievances to the construction of populist identities such as ‘the people’. Empirically, the book takes IR scholarship beyond the predominant focus on the populist radical right and single-country and -region studies. Building on the discourse analysis of an original data set, it offers a comparative analysis of right-wing and left-wing populist discourses in different world regions as well as populist cross-border collaboration and identity construction.
Author(s): Thorsten Wojczewski
Series: Global Political Sociology
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 355
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
1 Introduction: Populism and International Relations
Rationale, Themes and Theoretical Approach
Empirical Cases, Method and Sources
Outline of Chapters
Notes
References
2 The Populist Challenge to International Relations: Concept-Stretching, Methodological Nationalism and the Omission of Popular Sovereignty
Populism: Strategy, Ideology, Style, Discourse
Populism and International Relations
Resisting the Populist Hype?
State, Nation, People: The Place of Populism in IR
Conclusion
Notes
References
3 Theorizing the Relations Between Populism and Foreign Policy: A Discursive, Poststructuralist Approach
The Concept of Discourse
Populism and the Discursive Construction of the People
The Articulation of Right-Wing Populism and Left-Wing Populism
(Counter-)Hegemony, Dislocation and Crisis
Populism, Foreign Policy and World Politics
Conclusion
Notes
References
4 Addressing Shortcomings in the Laclauian Discursive Approach to Populism: Ontology, Radical Contingency, Affect and the Role of Populist Leaders and Antagonism
The Ontological Status and Conceptual Distinctiveness of Populism
The Radical Contingency of the Social and the Construction of the People
The Affective Force of Populism: Turning to Lacanian Psychoanalysis
The Populist Leader, Antagonism and Democracy
Conclusion
Notes
References
5 Right-Wing Populism and Foreign Policy in the United States, Germany and India
United States: The Trumpian Discourse1
Performing Crisis
Foreign Policy and Right-Wing Populist Identity Construction
The Trump Presidency
Germany: The Discourse of the Alternative for Germany
Performing Crisis
Foreign Policy and Right-Wing Populist Identity Construction
The AfD’s Foreign Policy Positions
India: The Discourse of Narendra Modi5
Performing Crisis
Foreign Policy and Right-Wing Populist Identity Construction
Modi in Power
Conclusion
Notes
References
6 Left-Wing Populism and Foreign Policy in the United States, Europe and Venezuela
United States: The Discourse of Bernie Sanders
Performing Crisis
Foreign Policy and Left-Wing Populist Identity Construction
Sanders’ Foreign Policy Positions
Europe: The Discourse of DiEM25
Performing Crisis
Foreign Policy and Left-Wing Populist Identity Construction
DiEM25’s Foreign Policy Positions
Venezuela: The Chavismo Discourse
Performing Crisis
Foreign Policy and Left-Wing Populist Identity Construction
The Foreign Policy of the Chavismo Government
Conclusion
Notes
References
7 International and Transnational Populism: Cross-Border Collaboration and Identity Construction
The Cooperation of the Populist Radical Right in Europe: The Formation of the Identity and Democracy Group
Modi’s Outreach to Trump and the Populist Radical Right in Europe
Populism Going Global?: The Progressive International of DiEM25 and the Sanders Movement
Chávez and the Promotion of Post-Neoliberal Regionalism in Latin America: The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA)
Conclusion
Notes
References
8 Conclusion: Re-Conceptualizing and De-Centring Populism in International Relations
Problematizing the Populist Hype in IR
An Alternative Research Agenda
Outlook
Notes
References
Appendix
Textual Data
Discourse Analysis
Index
