Sections Close
Cerca

Populism

People -

Antonio Decaro: How the Mayor of Bari Bewitched the Web During the Pandemic

The Mayor of this important city in the Apulia Region of South Italy shows how the content of its communication doesn’t call for the sovereignty of the people, doesn’t attack the elite, and doesn’t hate foreigners. He merged grassroot politics with online presence. This combination has proved to be just as successful as the polarizing tweets sent out by Matteo Salvini. “We are entering a new normal,” said Roberta Bracciale, Professor of Media Sociology at the University of Pisa. A normal where populist tools have become a part of the strategy for any ambitious politician.

News -

In Emilia-Romagna Salvini Faces Setback. In Italy He Is Still Strong

The left-leaning incumbent, Stefano Bonaccini, succeeded in defeating his center-right opponent, the League candidate Lucia Borgonzoni, by 8 percentage points. In other times, this would have represented a foregone conclusion: Emilia-Romagna has a long leftist political tradition, since the end of the Second World War. More recently, however, the polls have clearly shown the influence of the League Party even in the stronghold of the Italian left.

Arts -

John P. McCormick on Machiavelli’s Populist Politics

John P. McCormick, professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, presents his book Reading Machiavelli: Scandalous Books, Suspect Engagements, & the Virtue of Populist Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018). In conversation with Anne Ratnoff, Ph.D. student in French at Harvard University, McCormick discusses rehabilitating the notorious political philosopher’s image, how his reading of Machiavelli […]

U.N. -

“The Future Does not Belong to Globalists. The Future Belongs to Patriots.” Really?

President Bolsonaro wasn’t the only quasi-Trump leader that opened the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly. Whether done intentionally or not, the session also opened with populist presidents Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey. You didn’t have to listen to the other two presidents speak after President Bolsonaro and President Trump to understand that there was a populist agenda being pushed, even by the UN. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who had another message; but who was really listening?

News -

Nadia Urbinati: Populism? It’s not Fascism, and also Democracies Are “Elastic”

Professor Urbinati recently contributed to the political debate with two important volumes: Utopia Europa, published by Castelvecchi, and Me, the People. How Populism Transforms Democracy for Harvard University Press (coming soon). We met her in her office at the prestigious university in New York City to test the “political thermometer” on the health of our democracy and the challenges posed by populism, a few days before the European elections and about a year and a half before the highly awaited US presidential elections: "We have the internet, we have a solid democracy that has guaranteed 70 years of rule. Fascism will not return, it would be absurd, but there is a transformation of representative democracies because representation is no longer handled by the parties, but directly by the leaders ".

News -

Populism: Identity is the Issue; Eradicating it is Not the Solution

The more the discourse of the populist forces is confusing, unrealistic, ideologically violent, closed to others’ rationale, lacking perspective, in contrast with the democratic, universalistic and humanitarian values, the more appealing it is, and the more it is able to set the political agenda, as well as the collective emotional scene. People see their lives change without perceiving why and in what manner it is occurring. This creates a sense of uncertainty and helplessness that finds its most effective antidote to be the vilification of others. In effect, those who have an enemy have a clear idea of themselves, of what must be done, why and for what reason. What then must be done? There is only one path…

Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter / Subscribe to our newsletter

Close