Populism Has No Home Country
Populism Has No Home Country
Author(s): Alexander AndreevSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Фондация за хуманитарни и социални изследвания - София
Keywords: populism; parties of negation; democracy; demagogy; charisma
Summary/Abstract: There is a poem by the famous Austrian poet Ernst Jandl that can be used as a summary of all populist political appeals. The poem is called ‘Answers to Seven Unasked Questions’ and goes like this: ‘No / No / No / No / No / No / No’. My (not particularly original) thesis is that populist parties are, above all, parties of negation and that the moment they enter government they lose much of their energy and persuasiveness. I will try to illustrate this with somewhat unsystematic observations on the common aspects of populist parties and their development after they enter government. I will also offer a few remarks on populism in Germany, where I live.
Journal: Критика и хуманизъм
- Issue Year: 2007
- Issue No: 23_EN
- Page Range: 149-152
- Page Count: 4
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF