The Left and the Populist Slur
What exactly is populism? The term has become an omnibus one designating a wide range of social and political attitudes, usually of a conservative or anti-elitist disposition. It includes inter alia those who supported Brexit, small farmers across Europe reacting angrily to Europe’s latest environmental restrictions on greenhouse emissions, as well as political parties in Denmark, Sweden or Poland opposed to elevated levels of migration or those like Vox in Spain or Law and Justice (PiS) in Poland calling for an educational and political program that values traditional understandings and national sovereignty. There are significant differences between, on the one hand, politicians like Georgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orban or the Swedish Democrats, and on the other hand the left-wing populism of Robert Fico in Slovakia and more overtly national conservative and Euro-sceptic parties like AfD or the True Finns. Why label them all populist? Is the term a useful one and, if so,…
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10 mins
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