Political Parties, Origins, Transformations and Future Prospects Lectures
Lecture 1 “Introduction” 4-11-19
Parties are inevitable. You cannot have a representative democracy without political parties.
They are necessary but also hated.
Lecture 2 “Populism” 7-11-19
What to remember:
- “different definitions of populism”
- “an understanding of the variety of populism that exist”
- “an understanding of measuring populism”
- “some ideas about the causes of populism”
- “some ideas about the influence or implications of populism”
Why begin with populism:
- Party systems are under change (so it seems)
- An important piece in the puzzle is populism (so it seems)
- However, is this the case?
o Are party systems under change?
o What role does populism play in this?
First issue:
- What is populism?
- Why is this such a difficult question to address?
o It is not, but it is made more difficult than it is (according to Andrej)
o Due in part to the diversity of parties and leaders
o Populism seems to cut in different directions (both left and right-wing populists)
o It does not seem to fit with our usual spatial considerations
o Also due to the misuse of populism
That is what confuses us about populism and what it is exactly
Doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have logic, that it can’t be clear
Definitions of populism:
- Populism as giving the people what they want
o ‘political ideas and activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people
by giving them what they want’ Andrej disagrees with this definition, it is more
than this. Besides, you can fit (almost) all parties in this definition. This doesn’t
differentiate populism from other parties.
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,- Populism as a strategy
o Strategy (Weyland)
Personalized leadership (this is not distinct for populism)
Goal of obtaining power (populism as a mean to achieve this)
Resting on mass support
Based on unmediated leadership: lots of referenda, mass demonstrations
(personalized leadership is linked to the masses in an unmediated way. It is a
direct appeal, they speak for the people, ‘I am you’)
They have no systemic ideology or program: goal is to mobilize voters and to
obtain political power
o This is more Latin American oriented.
- Populism as a style (Moffit and Tormey)
o Performative: how they act, what they do (not so much what they say)
o Language: the language that they use
o The way they dress
o The way they act
o Tensions between high and low culture (Ostiguy 2017) populism is this tension
Example: Michelle Obama with sushi versus Trump with hamburgers (what
they fed teenagers who visited the white house)
This is a part of populism but still not the core, according to Andrej
- Populism as an ideology (set of ideas)
o Thin centered ideology: works different than other ideologies. Full ideologies have a
full program, in the sense that their ideologies cover most of the important policy
terrains. Thin centered ideologies isn’t broad enough, it doesn’t have a full coverage.
Nationalism is another example of this so it has to attach to other ideologies. For
example it attaches to the left or right, this is not the core of the populism
o = Ideational approach
o Three characteristics:
Pure (ordinary) people versus corrupt elite there has to be a tension and
distinction.
Corrupt elite can be literately corrupt but also symbolically corrupt.
It is the political class. Politics itself is corrupt. They are corrupted by
ideology. It makes it so complicated, just listen to the people.
Populist politicians say that they reluctantly are in politics, just to
save the people (so they are not part of the corrupt politics,
according to them).
Manichean (antagonistic): = tension between good and evil
Antagonism: us against them, people against elite.
General will: the pure people have this general will. Populists should and do
represent this.
Only when these three characteristics are together then it is populism, not just when there is
one of the three
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, o Who are the people?: everyday, silent minority, heartland, basis of the community,
people seen as homogenous
Populism versus Demoticism:
- We need to make a distinction between populism and demoticism (March, 2017)
- Demoticism: closeness to the people; using common language; being part of the people
- “what passes for ‘mainstream’ or ‘thin’ populist is not really populism at all but demoticism
(closeness to ordinary people), which is necessary but by no means sufficient for populism.”
Characteristics of populism:
- How to measure?
- Data: 250 parties on key attributes related to populism, political style, party ideology and
party organization. Expert survey conducted in 28 European countries.
- What is an expert survey?
o You ask experts (academics) a series of questions on party positions
o The experts are instructed to rate the parties on these dimensions so it is their
judgements
o The mean of the experts is used to represent the position of the party on the
designated dimension
- How to measure populism? it is a latent variable (it consists of different aspects)
It is not about if you are populist or not, it is about how populist you are, it is a scale.
Conclusions:
- Populism tends to found more on the extremes (of left and right)
- Populism can attach to different ideologies
How do we proceed:
- Populism is a latent variable
- Populism must be different than other attitudes (the not populisms)
- There should be some form of external validity
You can measure populism among individuals.
Populism is a distinct attitude.
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, Seminar:
What causes populism?: there has to be systematic problems with the elite, such as
corruption/collusion
The elite doesn’t have to be national, it can also be ‘the EU’
The opposite of populism is: unclear, you can argue about it. Could be both or neither:
- Elitism/technocracy
- Pluralism: this is what the lecturer thinks, because some populists like Baudet support a
technocratic government, because these will then fulfill the public will. (pluralism =
heterogeneous society, appreciates societal divisions)
Populism can be seen as anti-democratic: they see people as homogenous so they are more likely to
become totalitarian. They often feel like they have the only right answer so there is no need for
democracy and debate.
Lecture 3 “radical politics” 11-11-19
(belongs to lecture 2)
- Populism is something that unites different types of parties
- There is a populist attitude that goes beyond vote choice
- That might say something about the current state of politics
- Populism is perhaps not the most important part of the vote choice
The causes of populism:
- N.b. not the radical right but populism
- Article for this week made the claim that they (the attitudes) are present and need to be
triggered
o What is the core of populism: people centered notions of political representation
- Other reasons:
o More critical of authority
o We talk more about populism: supply side
o Democracy is the only game in town
o Complexity: our societies and democracy has become more complex and rule based
o Mainstream parties have weaker stories: populism is an answer; as a coping
mechanism
Influence of populism:
- We need to make a distinction between populism, populist actors and non-populists
- Have mainstream parties become more populist? Research says not
- Does this mean that is has nog had an influence?
o Could affect it in different ways: demoticism perhaps
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