Populism with a P(hD): Education Level and Populist Leaders

• In Event: Populist Strategies and Leaders

Abstract

An academic populist seems, at first glance, to be a contradiction in itself. Whether we define populism as an ideology (e.g., Mudde 2004 & 2017; Müller 2016), an aesthetic style, or a political strategy (Weyland 2017), it is directed against a perceived elite. Its figureheads identify as outsiders who intend to shorten the vertical distance between “the people” and their rulers. They publicly oppose an elitist model of democracy that bases its decisions on expert knowledge (Urbinati 2014). By contrast, academics are part of this elite. What do we make, then, of academics who become politicians whom we label “populist,” on either the left or the right of the political spectrum?

These academic populists, we argue in this paper, benefit from this perceived contradiction and actually use it to their advantage. Similar to populists who would normally be considered part of “the elite” (e.g., Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, Donald J. Trump in the USA, Christoph Blocher in Switzerland), academic populists use the expertise gained in and insight into academia to distance themselves from it. They disassociate themselves from the academic class, “the elite,” even as they build their political profile and appeal on the symbolic capital of their academic status. In the eyes of their voters, they are not “simple” politicians, but they speak from a disaffected insider’s perspective, i.e., as experts who have superior insight, yet have come to use it for the benefit of “the people” and have recognized the dangers of expertocracy and elitism—because they have been part of the benefitting class.

Combining an academic pedigree with a populist agenda comes, however, with risks that are different from the challenges that wealthy populist politicians face. The turn to populism can undermine one’s academic reputation and put into question one’s research record or suitability for academia. Moreover, the problem of credibility and relatability might be more persistent for academic populists than for others. This paper examines these pitfalls through four case studies: Pim Fortuyn (The Netherlands), Bernd Lucke (Germany), Christoph Mörgeli (Switzerland), and Elizabeth Warren (USA).

Authors

• Katherine Goktepe, University of St. Gallen

• Claudia Franziska Bruehwiler Haeusermann, University of St. Gallen