Yannis Stavrakakis

Left-wing populism in the European periphery: the case of SYRIZA

Due to its electoral performance in the 2012 general elections, SYRIZA, a previously unknown Greek political formation of the radical left, gained unprecedented visibility within the European public sphere. How is this strong showing and the political message articulated by SYRIZA to be interpreted? Utilizing a discursive methodology, this paper puts to the test the two assumptions predominating in most available analyses, namely that SYRIZA articulates a populist rhetoric, that it constitutes a predominantly populist force; and, given the near-exclusive association of populism with extreme right-wing movements, that SYRIZA constitutes a populist danger for Europe. Our analysis concludes that SYRIZAs discourse is indeed a distinct articulation of left-wing populism. However, this by no means vindicates the second part of the prevailing wisdom: SYRIZAs portrayal as a dangerous force threatening fundamental European values. If, however, this is the case, then mainstream research orientations in the study of European populism may have to be reviewed.

Antinomies of formalism: Laclau's theory of populism and the lessons from religious populism in Greece

This paper will first follow the trajectory of Ernesto Laclaus theorizations of populism from his early work in the 1970s up until his current views. While Laclaus formal approach to populist discourse constitutes a substantial advance in the theorization of this elusive concept, it will be argued that his recent reflections on populism may be construed as indicative of the limits of a ‘formalist’ approach. These antinomies of ‘formalism’ will be illuminated through the encounter with a recent neo‐populist mobilization, the articulation of a populist politicized discourse by the Church of Greece.

Green ideology: A discursive reading

Abstract How is Green ideology structured? What differentiates it from other ideologies that include ‘Green’ components? Does it really constitute a new ideological articulation or not? These are some of the still unresolved questions that this article attempts to explore. A discursive theory of ideology, based on the innovative work of Jacques Lacan as well as on a plurality of other theoretical insights on ideology (here the work of theorists such as Žižek, Laclau and Moujfe, Freeden, and Lefort is of great importance) provides the tools necessary in order to articulate some plausible answers to these and to many more relevant questions. Green ideology, I shall argue, is a new articulation of pre‐existing ideological elements. It is new in the sense that it is articulated around a new, distinct nodal point (or family of nodal points). The establishment of this nodal point gives a new meaning to a series of pre‐existing elements, transforming them into moments of Green ideology. This essay also examines ...

Passions of Identification: Discourse, Enjoyment, and European Identity

Without doubt, our contemporary world is marked throughout by the importance of questions of identity, something increasingly reflected in the directions of contemporary social-scientific research. It would be bizarre if the broad field of international relations were to stay untouched by this trend. In fact, no one is surprised any more by the fact that ‘the discipline of international relations (IR) is witnessing a surge of interest in identity and identity formation’ (Neumann, 1999, p. 1). The same applies to the subdiscipline of European Studies — affecting both marginal and mainstream approaches. As Anthony Smith has pointed out, one of the fundamental reasons for the current interest in ‘European unification’ is, undoubtedly, the problem of identity itself, one that has played a major part in European debates over the past 30-40 years. At issue [among others] has been the possibility and legitimacy of a ‘European identity’, as opposed to the existing national identities. (Smith, 1999, p. 226)

Dispatches from the Greek lab: Metaphors, strategies and debt in the European crisis

This field note is a first attempt to reflect on the choreography of the European crisis from a psychosocial perspective. It focuses on the situation as it has been unfolding in one of the debtor countries of the South, namely Greece. After mapping a variety of metaphors, repertoires and strategies used to energise blame and guilt and thus legitimise the neoliberal policies implemented, it elaborates on the multiple functions of debt, articulating a biopolitical approach with Freudian and Lacanian theorisations of the superego. It also inscribes within this framework the current mutations in political domination.

Distinctions and Articulations: A Discourse Theoretical Framework for the Study of Populism and Nationalism

The close empirical connections between populism and nationalism have naturalised a rather misleading overlap between the concepts of populism and nationalism in academic and public debates. As a result, the relation between the two has not received much systematic attention. Drawing on the poststructuralist discourse theory originally formulated by Laclau and Mouffe, this article differentially identifies populism and nationalism as distinct ways of discursively constructing and claiming to represent “the people”, as underdog and as nation respectively. These distinct constructions of “the people” can also be identified and highlighted from a spatial or orientational perspective, by looking at the architectonics of populism and nationalism as revolving around a down/up (vertical) and an in/out (horizontal) axis respectively. Building on this framework, the article then concludes that the co-occurrence of populism and nationalism should be studied through the prism of articulation. Again, a focus on discursive architectonics allows grasping how different political projects construct different discourses by connecting the building blocks of populism and nationalism in particular ways. The study of these articulations, based on a clear distinction between populism and nationalism, is a necessary step in further deepening our understanding of the complexity and variety of populist politics.

Extreme right-wing populism in Europe: revisiting a reified association

ABSTRACT Revisiting the trend of identifying populism with extreme right parties, in this paper we aim to problematize such associations within the context of today’s Europe. Drawing on examples from relevant parties in France and the Netherlands, and applying a discourse-theoretical methodology, we test the hypothesis that such parties are better categorized primarily as nationalist and only secondarily – and reluctantly – as ‘populist’. Our hypothesis follows the remarks of scholars who have stressed that the central theme in the discourse of such parties is not the staging of an antagonism between a ‘people’ and an ‘elite’, but rather the opposition of an ethnic community with its alleged dangerous ‘others’. In this context, we propose a discursive methodology able to differentiate between ‘populist’ and ‘nationalist’ (xenophobic, racist, etc.) discourses by locating the core signifiers in each discourse in relation to peripheral ones, as well as by clarifying the nature of the axial antagonisms put forth.

On the critique of advertising discourse

(2000). On the critique of advertising discourse. Third Text: Vol. 14, Obscene Powers: Corruption, Coercion and Violence, pp. 85-90.

A new populism index at work: identifying populist candidates and parties in the contemporary Greek context

ABSTRACT Interrogating available indexes from a discourse-theoretical point of view, this paper utilizes a reformulated populism index in order to identify populist parties. In particular, the index is applied in a candidate survey carried out in Greece in 2015. Findings indicate that this index allows for a clear differentiation between populist and non-populist parties. Based on candidate attitudes, SYRIZA and ANEL belong to the first group whereas New Democracy, PASOK and River to the second. The examination of additional survey items reveals a clear ideological division within the populist camp: right-wing populism is exclusionary, while left-wing populism more inclusive and pluralist.

The radical act: Towards a spatial critique:

What if the dominance of the spatial metaphor in political reasoning and imagination risks an ultimately anti-political structuration of the field, leaving no space for acts that re-shape relations of power and to power? This tendency can explain the movement away from space towards an appreciation and prioritization of temporality in contemporary political theory. And yet, as Žižek’s fetishization of the ‘radical act’ as pure temporality reveals, no solution is to be found in reversing the terms of this binary opposition. Pure space and pure time form an imaginary double further enhancing the repression of the political. What is thus needed is a more sophisticated registering of the unavoidable space–time dialectic, able to allow a topological rethinking of space and to encourage democratic acts aiming at the reflexive re-institution of social orders.