On Populist Emergencies

• In Event: Poster Session: Political Thought and Philosophy & International History and Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Political Thought and Philosophy: Historical Approaches

Abstract

Populism draws on a strong appeal to “the people,” who are brought together through the politico-discursive aggregation of social demands. Poverty, unemployment, crime, are examples of demands that the populist logic treats as equivalent, as Ernesto Laclau noted, as it amalgamates and mobilizes the people in an antagonist relation to “the elite.”

Besides directly addressing “the people,” populist leaders and movements put into question the highly mediated politics of liberal democracies. Distrust of established policies, institutions, and procedures transpires into a combination of perceived crises and the display of “bad manners” which, as Benjamin Moffitt and Simon Tormey add, define populism as a political style.

The populist style of politics carries a distinctive take on the emergency. While populist leaders challenge the identified threats and crises of liberalism, such as the normalization of emergency measures expanding since the aftermath of 9/11, once in power, populist governments contribute with their own, distinctive modalities of emergency rule.

In the populist imaginary, on matters as diverse as the economy, security, or immigration, the elites in power stand both as the source and agent of crises that hurt the lives of the common people on the ground. This is in part why, in the defense of the people’s real interests, the populist agenda tends to deviate from standard procedures and expert views.

This paper explores the links between populism and emergency politics. Drawing on examples of traditional, neoliberal, and progressive populist governments in Latin America, from Juan Domingo Perón to Alberto Fujimori to Rafael Correa, my paper interrogates, first, the contribution of populist governments to the expansion of emergency rule and, second, the parallels and differences between the populist and liberal traditions of emergency rule.

Author

• Guillermina Seri, Union College