The SG Showcase is a series of interviews with the PSAs Specialist Groups, explaining what they do and why – and how you can get involved. In this edition, we hear from the Populism Group.
The SG Showcase is a series of interviews with the PSAs Specialist Groups, explaining what they do and why – and how you can get involved. In this edition, we hear from the Populism Group.
Our convening committee is constituted by six members.
Marina Prentoulis (University of East Anglia) whose research interests include Left populism, Social Movements in Europe, Radical Ideologies;
Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University) who researches (populist) social movements and political parties on the left, radical democracy as well as the role of emotions in political identity formation;
Giorgos Katsambekis (Loughborough) whose research is located at the intersections of critical political theory and comparative politics with a special focus on discourse analysis and populism.
Andy Knott (University of Brighton) is our treasurer. He works in political theory, with a research interest in political subjects, democratic theory, discourse, and the history, theory and practice of populism.
We also have two Social Media and Communications officers. Alen Toplišek (King’s College London) who focuses on the politics and political economy of Central and Eastern Europe and explores anti-neoliberal (populist) movements and the way they affect contemporary political economic governance in the European Union; and Giorgos Venizelos (Scuola Normale Superiore) who focuses on left and right wing populism in power, collective identities in Europe and the United States.
Our group promotes the study of populist discourses, movements and parties at a local, national, European and international level. We encourage a rigorous theoretical and conceptual grounding of populism research as well as the strengthening of its analytical scope through comparative, quantitative and qualitative methods.
The Populism Specialist Group purports to facilitate a critical dialogue about contemporary democratic politics, and populism’s complex role within that. It particularly invites the participation and contribution of international scholars from countries and regions where populism has marked political culture shaping political frontiers and stimulating antithetical discursive articulations.
We organise a number of highly attended activities every year. We host one annual workshop every year in which we invite our members, new and old, to present their work. Our workshops are very stimulating and the environment is very familial. Participants, junior and senior receive and give feedback. Of course, we always continue these discussions outside the classrooms, at the pub!
We also host around five to six panels in the PSA’s annual conferences. The panels explore a variety of hot topics such as the relationship between populism and democracy, emotions and social movements. Our members also explore aspects from the very topical theme of populism in power, the changes that populism undergoes organisationally once in the institutions as well as the consequences that populism may have on the institutions themselves. We also encourage the study anti-populism – that is, how do politicians, journalists and academics talk about populism.
Anyone can become a member of the Populism Specialist Group after becoming a member of the PSA. More info here https://psa.ac.uk/specialist-groups/populism.
However, we welcome any non-members to get in touch and participate in our activities including conferences and workshops. Students and researchers of Populism can follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts for such announcements as well as other news and articles related to the topic of populism. Our social media accounts are very active and you can get in touch with us by simply sending a message.
We recently had a very successful virtual workshop. We had around 25 different papers presented by participants from 24 different academic institutions and an audience of around 30 people who were registered as external participants to attend the sessions. Dr Maria Esperanza Casullo from the Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Argentina and Professor Simon Tormey from the University of Bristol keynoted the workshop. Casullo’s talk, ‘Populism and myth: crafting explanations for uncertain times’, explored the critical role that the body plays in (distinct typologies of) populist identification. Through an original socio-cultural theoretical approach, she provided us with a Latin American perspective on populism. Tormey’s talk, ‘Temporalities of populism – or towards a sociology of ‘‘populisation’’, offered critical overview of the transformations of ‘doing’ and thinking about populism over the last five or six decades. What was populism like in the 1960s and how did we think about it? How does contemporary populism adjust to the technological and socio-political changes of our (spectacular) times? You can watch the speeches on our YouTube channel by visiting our page here.
Additionally, we recently launched our newsletter. The last, second, issue was dedicated to Left wing populism, a topic that received increasing academic and political interest over the last years. In it you will find two interviews with prominent scholars whose work has been highly influential in the field of populism research: one with the Argentinian political theorist Paula Biglieri and another one with the British political scientist Luke March. You will also find timely commentaries and analyses, and four book reviews of fresh publications related to left populism. This issue could not ignore the global developments related to the ongoing pandemic and it thus includes timely expert observations as well!
You can find it pinned at the top of our Facebook page: @populismgroup
