Resisting the ‘populist hype’: a feminist critique of a globalising concept
Maiguashca, BE
Date: 25 September 2019
Article
Journal
Review of International Studies
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to offer a feminist critique of populism, not as a distinct
mode of politics, but as an analytical and political concept. As such, it seeks to re-directs our
attention away from populism, understood as a politics ‘out there’, towards the academic
theoretical debates that have given this analytical term ...
The purpose of this article is to offer a feminist critique of populism, not as a distinct
mode of politics, but as an analytical and political concept. As such, it seeks to re-directs our
attention away from populism, understood as a politics ‘out there’, towards the academic
theoretical debates that have given this analytical term a new lease on life and propelled it
beyond academic circles into the wider public discourse. In this context, the article develops
two broad arguments. The first is that the two prevailing conceptions of populism are
marred by anaemic conceptions of power, collective agency and subjectivity and, as such,
are unable to present us with a convincing account of why this form of radical politics
emerges in the first place, who its protagonists are and how they come together in
collective struggle. The second is that our current frenetic deployment of the term as a
blanket descriptor for radical politics of all persuasions does not bode well for feminism
politically. For both reasons, I conclude that feminists need to resist the current ‘populist
hype’.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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