POLITICAL BELIEFS, “CATCH-ALL” POPULISM, AND POLITICAL FIDEISM: THE LEADER-CENTRIC PROPAGANDA MODEL
POLITICAL BELIEFS, “CATCH-ALL” POPULISM, AND POLITICAL FIDEISM: THE LEADER-CENTRIC PROPAGANDA MODEL

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we will attempt to consider the issue of constructing and justifying political beliefs under the conditions of populist politics and authoritarian regimes. We will address the non-ideological nature of the so-called “catch-all” populism, attempts to exclude the educated and intellectual elite from public political life, and the use of certain informal logical fallacies in the development of a populist propaganda model. We will also point out the similarities between religious and political propaganda. In this regard, we will try to interpret the leader-centric propaganda model from the perspective of Leibnizian theodicy and, relying on Wittgenstein’s religious fideism, introduce the category of political fideism as a way to better understand the effects of populist-leader propaganda.

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