The 'populist wave' that engulfed the world over a decade ago is not showing any signs of ebbing away. One reason for the continued success of populist leaders, parties, and movements is the emotional resonance of their narratives, imaginaries and performances. This workshop analyses and compares the passions at play in populist mobilisations. It has three aims: 1. To connect scholars using a rich set of approaches, concepts and methods to compare and extend their research. 2. To advance scholarship on the theoretical and empirical research on populist passion. 3. To produce a top-quality publication.
From Meloni to Wagenknecht, from Lula to Milei, the strength of populist parties, movements and discourses is evident around the world (Ross 2024; Stavrakakis and Katsambekis 2024; Vinocur 2024). Research on populism incorporates a wide variety of theories and cases of populism, providing a rich toolkit for understanding its significance and salience (Laclau 2005; Moffitt 2016; Mouffe 2019, 2022; Stavrakakis 2024). At the same time, scholarship on political passions/affect/emotions is growing (Ahmed 2004; Dikeç 2024; Goodwin et al. 2001; Sunnercranz 2021).
However, research on the role of passions/affect/emotions in populist performances is still underdeveloped. While it is no secret that populists have emotional appeal, there is a reluctance to acknowledge that passions are not simply irrational, but play a central and productive role in populism (Eklundh 2024: 314). New, exciting and important avenues of investigation are opening to examine how populism passions operate to build collective identities, charge antagonisms and forge their appeal.
To date, those who have researched populist passions have focused on hope (Frank 2020; Kazin 1998), nostalgia (Ezgi 2024) shame and ressentiment (Demertzis 2006; Salmela and von Scheve 2017). This workshop further connects these two areas of research to further explore the role of different passions in populist identities, and performances movements. It will bring together scholars from different disciplinary and geographical backgrounds to interrogate and compare different cases and theories of populism, apply and refine concepts of political emotions, and ask and address questions that concern political scientists, policy-makers and citizens today.
Ahmed, Sara. 2004. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh University Press.
Demertzis, Nicholas. 2006. Emotions and Populism. In: Clarke, Hoggett and Thompson (eds.) Emotion, Politics and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London
Dikeç, Mustafa, 2024. Rage as a political emotion. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 49, e12649. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12649
Elci, Ezgi. 2024. Nostalgia and Populism. The Routledge Handbook of Nostalgia. Routledge.
Emmy Eklundh. 2024. Populism and emotions. In: Stavrakakis, Yannis and Giorgos Katsambekis (eds.) Research Handbook on Populism. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Frank, Thomas. 2020. The people, no: a brief history of anti-populism. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Goodwin, Jeff, James M. Jasper and Francesca Polletta (eds). 2001. Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kazin, Michael. 1998. The populist persuasion: an American history. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press.
Laclau, Ernesto. 2005. On Populist Reason. London: Verso.
Moffitt, Benjamin. 2016. The Performative Turn in the Comparative Study of Populism. Comparative Studies Newsletter. 26 (2): 52-58.
Mouffe, Chantal. 2019. For a Left Populism. London: Verso.
Mouffe, Chantal. 2022. Towards a Green Democratic Revolution: Left Populism and the Power of Affects. London: Verso Books.
Ross, Bertrall L. 2024. Polarization, Populism, and the Crisis of American Democracy. Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 20. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-041922-035113
Salmela, Mikko and Christian von Scheve. 2017. Emotional roots of right-wing political populism. Social Science Information. 56 (4): 567–595
Stavrakakis, Yannis. 2024. Populist Discourse: Recasting Populism Research. Routledge.
Stavrakakis, Yannis and Giorgos Katsambekis. 2024.Research Handbook on Populism. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Sunnercrantz, Liv. 2021. ‘Which side are you on – Mr. Westerberg?’ Reason, affect and division in public debate. Distinktion 22 (3): 397-420.
Vinocur, Nicholas. 2024. As Europe votes, a populist wave surges. Politico. https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-election-vote-populist-wave-alternative-for-germany-national-rally/
1: How is the affective resonance of populist narratives and performances best conceptualised, studied and measured?
2: In what different ways do emotions help to configure and strengthen populist identities and antagonisms?
3: Are different kinds of populist mobilisations characterised by the circulation of different emotions?
4: Which conceptual and methodological tools can be used to assess the role of passions in populism?
5: How can political science navigate assumptions of rational/emotional dichotomy in populism?
1: Case studies of passions in populist mobilizations.
2: Theoretical developments of populist passions.
3: Comparative analyses of populist passions.
4: Methodological innovations for exploring passions and emotions in populist mobilizations.
5: The impact of populist passions for democratic institutions.
6: The interplay between reasons and emotions in 'the crowd'.
