ID | 172931 |
Title Proper | Power populism |
Other Title Information | the battle between Putin, Trump, and the liberal elite |
Language | ENG |
Author | Crosston, Matthew |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | In traditional understandings of classical populism, power is commonly defined as being in need of devolving from the corridors of power and out to a more grassroots foundation. At its core, populism was usually seen as a belief in empowering regular people. ‘Regular people’ were typically defined as being disconnected, if not outright disenfranchised, from central power and outside the realm of the ‘elite.’ This paper investigates the modern phenomenon in Russia and America that turns these traditional concepts completely on their head. Rather than being a movement engineered against elite political insiders, populism in America and Russia currently seems to be occupied by the elites of society. Ironically, these elites position themselves as the chosen representatives of the disenfranchised. These strange bedfellows have arguably produced a new form of ‘power populism’: instead of being focused on removing power from the state, this populism is founded more upon strengthening the global position of the state while tacitly dismissing/attacking the perceived intellectual elite of each society. |
`In' analytical Note | Russia in Global Affairs Vol. 18, No.1; Jan-Mar 2020: p.10-38 |
Journal Source | Russia in Global Affairs Vol: 18 No 1 |
Key Words | Conservatism ; Civilizations ; Russia ; Slavophilism ; Isolationism ; International Power ; Orthodoxy |