Reassessing the Populist Scandal: Contemporary Challenges to Democracy and the Populist Promise Revisited

No doubt, contemporary representative democracy is today challenged by a multitude of risks: oligarchic and technocratic trends fostering post-democracy, a crisis of the party form and political participation more broadly, individualization leading to higher abstention rates, political alienation and cynicism, authoritarian trends and war, etc. Populism is often considered part of such challenges, if not their root cause. This view can be dominant in public discourse and even dominates most of the academic mainstream in populism research. And yet, what if such a conclusion is based on a rather selective reading of the history of populism; on a neglect of rigorous comparative study and reflexive methodological tools; on the application of double standards in judging political alternatives? Drawing on recent developments enhancing methodological pluralism (Ostiguy, Panizza & Moffitt 2021; Stavrakakis & Katsambekis 2024) and especially on the recasting of populism research developed by discourse theory (Stavrakakis 2024) and socio-cultural/performative approaches (Ostiguy 2017), this paper will paint a much different picture: what is often a priori stigmatized as a scandal, populism mobilization, will be seen as a crucial resource for the revitalization of contemporary democracy. However, even if this the case, (1) does this apply to all types of populism? What new typologies are necessary to navigate this treacherous field? (2) can democratic populism resolve the aforementioned challenges to democracy or is it bound to succumb to the contemporary mutations plaguing collectivity and agency? (3) Can, after all, democratic populism offer a sustainable political alternative for democratic politics and under what conditions? References Ostiguy, Pierre (2017) ‘Populism: A Socio-Cultural Approach’, in The Oxford Handbook of Populism, ed. C. R. Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P.O. Espejo, and P. Ostiguy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 73–97. Ostiguy, Pierre, Panizza, Francisco, and Moffitt, Benjamin (eds.) (2021) Populism in Global Perspective: A Performative and Discursive Approach, New York: Routledge. Stavrakakis, Yannis (2024) Populist Discourse: Recasting Populism Research, New York: Routledge. Stavrakakis, Yannis and Katsambekis, Giorgos (eds.) (2024) Research Handbook on Populism, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.