2019_09_17_ICS_discursos_populista

International experts have analyzed speech populism across the European political spectrum in a new book. Imagining the Peoples of Europe: Populism Across the Political Spectrum is co-edited by Ruth Breeze, senior researcher at project 'Public discourse' of the Institute for Culture and Society of the University of Navarra, and Jan Zienkowski, of St. Louis University in Brussels (Belgium) and former researcher of the ICS. 

As the editors of the book explain, the European political landscape is undergoing rapid change. In this scenario, new actors and movements are emerging that claim to represent 'the will of the people' and are attracting considerable public attention, with implications for electoral outcomes. 

The book explores the new political order with a concrete approach on the discursive constructions of the people and the category of populism across the spectrum. sample how a unitary representation of the people is a central element in a wide range of very diverse political discourses. 

Representation of the 'people' in political movements

The authors of the chapters explore commonalities and differences in representations of the people in radical and mainstream political movements, analyzing in depth recent political discourses at the European level. Thus, they investigate how historically situated categories such as the people and populism are fixed through local linguistic, textual, and narrative practices, as well as through ideological and discursive patterns.

The new book is part of the project 'The demos in the imaginary of the new politics: the discussion on the popular will at Public discourse in Europe' (MINECO: FFI2015-65252-R), developed between 2016 and 2018 at the ICS under the direction of Ruth Breeze. The project has explored how the discourses of new political parties and movements in Europe represent the people (demos) and how this is articulated with other ideas, focusing on the period of instability following the 2008 crisis.