Transnational Populism: The Populist Challenge from the Left?

Patricia Chiantera-Stutte puts the recent experience with left-wing transnational populism in the longer perspective of traditional (radical) left-wing movements and internationalism. Such a discussion needs to take into account the original historical manifestations of populism and the relations with democracy and in particular social democracy. As Panayotu, Chiantera-Stutte discusses in particular DiEM25, taking into account in particular Gramscian and Laclauian dimensions. For Chiantera-Stutte, a main issue regards DiEM25’s attempt to create a hegemonic movement, that is, the construction of a historical bloc which manages to successfully create a novel discourse, in antagonism to the current social and political hegemonic system. Chiantera-Stutte hence sets out to analyse DiEM25’s political strategy and language from the perspective of Laclau’s understanding of hegemony. The chapter brings out the difficulties, even if not necessarily the impossibility, of attempts to create a transnational people. Chiantera-Stutte usefully stresses the need to situate left-wing populism within the larger context of political liberalism, post-Marxism, and populism. A core tension in DiEM25 seems to be between its continuation, on the one hand, of traditional leftist internationalism and, on the other, the attempt to construct a novel, post-ideological political force.