Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- PART I REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM: THE ROLE OF PEOPLE IN RADICAL DEMOCRACY
- PART II REASSESSING CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES IN TIMES OF DEMOCRATIC RUPTURES
- PART III POPULIST CONSTITUTIONALISM: DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS
- PART IV POPULIST CONSTITUTIONALISM FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF EMOTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL IMAGINATION
- PART V CHALLENGES TO CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN TIMES OF COVID-19 CONSTITUTIONALISM AND BEYOND
- PART VI THE SPREAD OF POPULISM AND ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Editor
Between Law and Revolution: Is Populism Constitutional?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- PART I REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM: THE ROLE OF PEOPLE IN RADICAL DEMOCRACY
- PART II REASSESSING CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES IN TIMES OF DEMOCRATIC RUPTURES
- PART III POPULIST CONSTITUTIONALISM: DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS
- PART IV POPULIST CONSTITUTIONALISM FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF EMOTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL IMAGINATION
- PART V CHALLENGES TO CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN TIMES OF COVID-19 CONSTITUTIONALISM AND BEYOND
- PART VI THE SPREAD OF POPULISM AND ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Editor
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Populism can be revolutionary, because a prescriptive conception of democracy is not able to rule our globalised world and economy. Therefore, the question that populism tries to answer is: how can we represent the people, leftalone to face the uncertain economic and social relationships that are the by-products of the globalized economy?
In D. Rodrik's opinion, for example, we find this strong root:
I do not claim that globalization was the only force at play – nor necessarily even the most important one. Changes in technology, rise of winner-take-all markets, erosion of labor-market protections, and decline of norms restricting pay differentials all have played their part. These developments are not entirely independent from globalization, insofar as they both fostered globalization and were reinforced by it. But neither can they be reduced to it. Nevertheless, economic history and economic theory both give us strong reasons to believe that advanced stages of globalization are prone to populist backlash.
The impact of globalisation is different in every part of the world, and we therefore have a variety of populist movements. However, we are witnessing the predominance of right-wing populism in the current wave. This brand of populism emphasises a cultural cleavage: the national, ethnic, religious or cultural identity of the ‘people’ against outside groups who allegedly pose a threat to the popular will. In the United States (US), Donald Trump has at various points demonised the Mexicans, Chinese and Muslims. In Europe, right-wing populists portray Muslim immigrants, minority groups (Roma or Jews) and the faceless bureaucrats of Brussels as the ‘other’.
An alternative type of populism revolves around a largely economic cleavage between the wealthy groups who control the economy and define its rules and the lower-income groups without access to power. The calculation of the distance between the people and the power is explored by F. Sureau:’ It is hard to live, especially as a conscious citizen, in a world that seems to escape both organizing reason and political action’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Populist Constitutionalism and Illiberal DemocraciesBetween Constitutional Imagination, Normative Entrenchment and Political Reality, pp. 117 - 128Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2021