Table Of Content‘In times of crises, representative democracies are challenged, and with them the
established conceptions of the people. As in the past, a Great Recession triggers
the development of right-wing populism, with the spreading of xenophobic ideol -
ogies that, when successful in the electoral arena, bring about hybrid regimes,
limiting pluralism and freedom. To which extent, progressive forces can resist the
threats of a Great Regression, spreading inclusive definition of the people and
participatory forms of democracy is an open question that this collection of essays
helps addressing through new ideas and original data’.
Donatella della Porta, Professor, Department of Political and
Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
‘It is vital that progressive academics engage with the rise of populism in Western
liberal-democracies, in research and teaching. Freedom to think and research, and
therefore education itself, is threatened by populism. Wide-ranging in scope and
full of interesting case studies, this collection is a great addition to crucial debates
over populism today’.
Kate Nash, Professor, Department of Sociology,
Goldsmiths University of London, UK
‘This is an important and timely book, which offers a rich collection of well-written
case studies and theoretical essays on one of the most important subjects of this
era. As such, it is also one of the best available introductions to this subject’.
Koen Vossen, Lecturer, Department of Political Science,
Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
‘The book goes beyond questions of definition and normative judgments to
analyze the impact of populist politics on party systems, language, media, the law
and political subjectivities. In doing so, the authors make a genuine contribution
to the understanding of one of the most relevant political topics of our time’.
Francisco Panizza, Professor, Department of Government,
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Populism and the Crisis
of Democracy
The contributions to this volume Politics, Social Movements and Extremism
take serious the fact that populism is a symptom of the crisis of representation that
is affecting parliamentary democracy. Right-wing populism skyrocketed to
electoral success and is now part of the government in several European countries,
but it also shaped the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election. In
Southern Europe, left-wing populism transformed the classical two parties systems
into ungovernable three fractions parliaments, whereas in Latin America, it still
presents an instable alternative to liberal democracy.
The varying consequences of populist mobilisation so far consist in the macer -
ation of the established borders of political culture, the distortion of legislation
concerning migrants and migration and the emergence of hybrid regimes bordering
on and sometimes leaning towards dictatorship. Yet, in order to understand
populism, innovative research approaches are required that need to be capable of
overcoming stereotypes and conceptual dichotomies which are deeply rooted in
the political debate.
The chapters of this volume offer such new theoretical strategies for inquiring
into the multi-faceted populist phenomenon. The chapters analyse its language,
concepts and its relationship to social media in an innovative way, draw the con -
tours of left- and right-wing populism and reconstruct its shifting delimitation to
political extremism. Furthermore, they value the most significant aftermath of
populist mobilisation on the institutional frame of parliamentary democracy from
the limitation of the freedom of press, to the dismantling of the separation of
powers, to the erosion of citizenship rights. This volume will be an invaluable
reference for students and scholars in the field of political theory, political
sociology and European Studies.
Gregor Fitziis a Co-Director of the Centre for Citizenship, Social Pluralism and
Religious Diversity at University of Potsdam, Germany. After his PhD in Sociology
at the University of Bielefeld, he was Assistant Professor at the Institute of Soci-
ology, University of Heidelberg, Germany and held a temporary position as
Full Professor at the University of Bielefeld. His most recent publication is The
Challenge of Modernity: Georg Simmel’s Sociological Theory (Routledge, 2018).
Jürgen Mackert is a Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Centre
for Citizenship, Social Pluralism and Religious Diversity at Potsdam University,
Germany. His research interests are in sociology of citizenship, political economy,
closure theory, collective violence. His most recent publication is The Trans-
formation of Citizenship (Routledge, 2017), in three volumes, co-edited with Bryan
S. Turner.
Bryan S. Turner is a Professor of the Sociology of Religion at the Australian
Catholic University, Honorary Professor at Potsdam University and Honorary
Fellow in The Edward Cadbury Centre, Birmingham University, UK. In 2015, he
received the Max Planck Award from the Max-Planck Society and Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He is editor of Citizenship Studies, the Journal
of Classical Sociologyand the Journal of Religious and Political Practice. He is
also Chief Editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory(2017).
Routledge Advances in Sociology
Indigenous Knowledge Production
Navigating Humanity within a Western World
Marcus Woolombi Waters
Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies
Edited by Natascha Mueller-Hirth, Sandra Rios Oyola
Practicing Art/Science
Experiments in an Emerging Field
Edited by Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone & Priska Gisler
The Great Transformation
History for a Techno-Human Future
Judith Bessant
Occupying London
Post-Crash Resistance and the Limits of Possibility
Sam Burgum
Populism and the Crisis of Democracy
Volume 1: Concepts and Theory
Edited by Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert and Bryan S. Turner
Populism and the Crisis of Democracy
Volume 2: Politics, Social Movements and Extremism
Edited by Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert and Bryan S. Turner
Populism and the Crisis of Democracy
Volume 3: Migration, Gender and Religion
Edited by Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert and Bryan S. Turner
The Challenge of Modernity
Georg Simmel’s Sociological Theory
Gregor Fitzi
The World Multiple
Everyday Politics of Knowing and Generating Entangled Worlds
Edited by Keiichi Omura, Grant Jun Otsuki, Shiho Satsuka, Atsuro Morita
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Advances-in-Sociology/book-series/SE0511
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Populism and the Crisis
of Democracy
Volume 2:
Politics, Social Movements
and Extremism
Edited by
Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert
and Bryan S. Turner
GE Routledge
OUTLED Taylor & Francis Group
R
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert and
Bryan S. Turner; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert and Bryan S. Turner to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN: 978-1-138-09137-5 (hbk)
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Contents
List of figures and tables xi
Notes on contributors xiii
Introduction: Political populism as a symptom of the great
transformation of democracy 1
GREGOR FITZI
PART I
Language, media and the law
1 The micro-politics of right-wing populism 11
RUTH WODAK
2 Populism 2.0: Social media and the false allure of ‘unmediated’
representation 30
BENJAMIN MOFFITT
3 From protecting individual rights to protecting the public:
The changing parameters of populist-driven criminal law
and penal policy 47
JOHN PRATT AND MICHELLE MIAO
PART II
Dimensions of right-wing populism
4 Right-wing populism in context: A historical and systematic
perspective 67
DIETER RUCHT
5 Populism and the radical right in Europe: The paradigmatic
case of the French Front National 85
DIETMAR LOCH
