Plenary Lecture – The Discursive Construction of Discontent: Varieties of Populist Anti-System Ideas and Discursive Networks in Europe

Abstract

The sources of populist anti-system discontent are well known, including the economics of those feeling left behind, the sociology of those fearing a loss of status, and the politics of those wanting to ‘take back control.’ The party politics have been diagnosed in depth, charting the decline of mainstream parties, too long clustered in the middle, leaving openings to the populist anti-system parties on the extremes. Populism itself has been defined in myriad ways, detailing how charismatic leaders claim to be the only ones to speak for ‘the people’ against the elites in the language of post-truth, lies, and bullshit. Less studied has been the discursive construction of discontent in different institutional contexts over time, including the ideational content of leaders’ unmediated communication and the discursive networks by which their parties coordinate the spread of populist ideas via social media and traditional media while out of power and in power. Using discursive institutionalist analysis, this paper theorises and investigates the varieties of populist anti-system ideas and discursive networks in Europe, with illustrative examples from EU and national level.