Colloqium 'Le Populisme de Gauche'
Left Populism: History, Theory, Practice
Université de Liège
14.10.21 - 15.10.21
Université de Liège
14.10.21 - 15.10.21
The post-crisis years of 2008 have seen the emergence of a new phenomenon in Europe, particularly on its Mediterranean shore: left-wing populism. The results of these political experiments have been mixed to date. After promising beginnings and a spectacular irruption in their national political game, these movements have experienced fairly similar trajectories: electoral defeats or stagnation, internal dissensions sometimes going as far as splits, and a transformation of the discourse.
The end of this populist decade and of the political cycle opened by the Great Recession - and the beginning of a new cycle, with uncertain contours, opened by the current health crisis - invites us to evaluate these political experiences that have marked it, taking the necessary analytical distance. To do this, it is important to subject the populist parties and movements of the left to a critical and provisional assessment without falling into the pitfalls of either demonising them or considering them as the "miraculous solution" to the current strategic impasses of the left.
However, left-wing populism is part of a longer history, a wider geography, and a particular theoretical tradition, that of post-Marxism, brought by Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe. In order to integrate these dimensions, an assessment that aims to be both critical and exhaustive should at least mobilise and combine three complementary approaches: historical genealogy, theoretical reflection and empirical study. The aim of this colloquium is to draw up as complete an inventory as possible of knowledge, debates and research perspectives on left-wing populism.
The end of this populist decade and of the political cycle opened by the Great Recession - and the beginning of a new cycle, with uncertain contours, opened by the current health crisis - invites us to evaluate these political experiences that have marked it, taking the necessary analytical distance. To do this, it is important to subject the populist parties and movements of the left to a critical and provisional assessment without falling into the pitfalls of either demonising them or considering them as the "miraculous solution" to the current strategic impasses of the left.
However, left-wing populism is part of a longer history, a wider geography, and a particular theoretical tradition, that of post-Marxism, brought by Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe. In order to integrate these dimensions, an assessment that aims to be both critical and exhaustive should at least mobilise and combine three complementary approaches: historical genealogy, theoretical reflection and empirical study. The aim of this colloquium is to draw up as complete an inventory as possible of knowledge, debates and research perspectives on left-wing populism.
The colloquium is organised by Arthur Borriello (Cevipol/FNRS, Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Manuel Cervera-Marzal (Pragmapolis/FNRS, Université de Liège), and co-organised by DESIRE, the Centre for the study of Democracy, Signification and Resistance.
The programme can be found here.
The programme can be found here.