Populism
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KEY FIGURE
JUAN DOMINGO PERÓN (1895–1974) An Argentine soldier and politician, Perón took a leading part in an army coup in 1943, giving him his first taste of political office. In 1946, he was elected to the presidency, being re-elected in 1951. Peron derived immense popularity by cultivating the support of the urban working and middle classes in Buenos Aires through a programme of sweeping nationalization and expanded government spending, aided by the charismatic oratory of his wife, ‘Evita’ Peron (1919–52). Basing his power on the multi-class appeal of the Justicialista (Peronist) Party, Perón embraced ideas that ranged across the political spectrum, from the far-left to the far-right. Deposed and exiled following a military coup in 1955, Perón returned triumphantly to Argentina and the presidency in 1973, before dying the following year.
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The period since the turn of the twenty-first century has witnessed a major resurgence of populism, encouraging some to dub the contemporary period the ‘age of populism’. Affecting most dramatically Europe and North America (although its influence has extended fromAustralia andBrazil toThailand and India), this process gainedmomentum from the so-called Great Recession that came in the wake of the 2007–09 global financial crisis. Manifestations of this particular formof ‘anti-politics’ have beenmany and various. These have included the increased prominence of right-wing nationalist parties (such as the French National Rally, the Sweden Democrats, Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Austria’s Freedom Party); the emergence of new political groups and movements (such as Syriza (Coalition for the Radical Left) in Greece, Podemos (We Can) in Spain and the Five Star Movement in Italy); and the rise of ‘strongman’ leaders (such as Viktor Orban (see p. 181) in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil). The clearest evidence that politics had entered a turbulent new age came in 2016, when Donald Trump, first, won the Republican presidential nomination and then defeated
Hillary Clinton in the race to become the US president, and the UK voted in a referendum in favour of leaving the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc. In both cases, the events were crucially influenced by a populist revolt against mainstream politics (‘politics as normal’), whose strength defied the predictions of almost all pundits.
Mainstream politics: Political activities, processes and structures that are regarded as conventional; the dominant trend in politics.
KEY CONCEPT ANTI-POLITICS
and declining levels of party membership and political activism. However, anti-politics has also spawned new forms of politics, which, in various ways, articulate resentment or hostility towards political structures and offer more ‘authentic’ alternatives. These include the rise of ‘fringe’ or anti-political parties and the emergence of populist leaders. The attraction of such parties and leaders is substantially linked to their image as political ‘outsiders’, which is often maintained even if they win power.
‘Anti-politics’ is a rejection of, or alienation from, conventional politicians and political processes, especially mainstream political parties and established representative mechanisms. One manifestation of anti-politics is a decline in civic engagement, as citizens turn away from politics and retreat into private existence. This is reflected most clearly in a fall in voter turnout
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