Can populism and how be a new strategy for renewing the left?

Abstract

I start with the question of whether populism can be a strategy for renewing the Left. I argue that populism has such potential if: a) it is used for bringing together ?scattered consciousnesses?, b) if it advocates and goes in the direction of radical reform, c) if it is accompanied by minutely pre-defined reform policies, and most importantly d) if the Left manages to bridge populism?s inherent gap between the promised and the fulfilled. Among the various definitions of populism discussed at the outset of the text, I choose to use one that defines populism as a discursive-rhetorical style and technique of doing politics. I offer six antitheses that could be considered to have contributed to the fall of the Left. The focus then shifts to the success and failure of the Third Way, which I interpret as a collection of ideologemes, phrases, and floating signifiers used for new populist rhetoric. I then seek to demonstrate what Le Bon?s Psychology of the Crowd - in which important topics about populism are discussed - has to say about the psychology of populism and the mechanisms of acceptance of populist rhetoric, and whether it contains any useful lessons for the Left. In the last part I propose six theses and discuss populism as a strategy for renewing the Left.