Whose Populism? Which People? Mouffe, Girard and Lonergan in Dialogue

Chantal Mouffe argues that neoliberal "post-politics" has contributed to the rise of a populist moment marked by the re-emergence of collective identifications constitutive of what Carl Schmitt terms "the political." Although right-wing populism exemplifies one response to post-p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Olkovich, Nicholas (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Equinox Publ. 2020
In: Religious studies and theology
Year: 2020, Volume: 39, Issue: 2, Pages: 160-176
Further subjects:B Bernard Lonergan
B René Girard
B Populism
B radical democracy
B Agonism
B Chantal Mouffe
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Summary:Chantal Mouffe argues that neoliberal "post-politics" has contributed to the rise of a populist moment marked by the re-emergence of collective identifications constitutive of what Carl Schmitt terms "the political." Although right-wing populism exemplifies one response to post-politics, its xenophobic or exclusivist construction of "the people" represents the flipside of neoliberal globalization’s moralization of Schmitt’s friend/enemy distinction. In her efforts to overcome this stalemate, Mouffe commends the development of an agonistic form of politics that widens democratic debate as well as a left populist movement focused on radicalizing the principles of liberty and equality for all. Drawing on the work of René Girard and Bernard Lonergan in this paper’s final section, I aim to confirm but also complicate Mouffe’s account of the twofold movement from antagonism to agonism and radical democracy. The fruits of this three-way conversation represent a modest first step towards the articulation of an inclusive populism.
ISSN:1747-5414
Contains:Enthalten in: Religious studies and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/rsth.42161