Populism, performance and affect. The study of Ciudadanos and Podemos populist trades., 2018
Spain was highly affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, which had dreadful and devastating... more Spain was highly affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, which had dreadful and devastating consequences for the population. The political and the social scene was in constant change. The agitation provoked a drastic rise in social movements in the country (Vicenç Navarro, 2013). The two-party political system active in Spain during its democratic period couldn’t resist this agitational climate and deep suffering that was changing the political climate for the first time since the end of the dictatorship in 1978.
Therefore, this time the demonstrations and social anger provoked a breakdown in Spanish politics and gave birth to new political parties which tried to attract all the discontent and skeptical voters. The first one of them was Podemos, born directly from the 15-M movement and founded in January 2014 by a group of left-wing scholars. As kind of response to it, the Catalonian platform founded in 2006 Ciudadanos burst strongly in the political scene as right-wing alternative to Podemos, presenting themselves as “the sensible change”. (Orriols and Cordero, 2016).
Both parties quickly changed completely the Spanish political landscape. In the 2015 general elections Podemos and Ciudadanos achieved 42 and 40 seats in the Parliament and occupied most of the media attention (La Información, 2015).
Both parties and specially their leaders: Pablo Iglesias in Podemos and Albert Rivera in Ciudadanos can be defined as populist (Mudde, 2004). In this paper we will aim to analyze their populist discourse through specific fragments and literature which define this label, in the context of the rise of populist parties in the European politics. However, we will light the peculiarity of this case of populism, since these political actors lack the typical bad manners, bad behavior, trickster traits and colorful language that are common among the most well-known populist politicians like Trump, Hugo Chávez and Poujade (Willefordd, 1969).
Despite this change of the political Spanish landscape since the birth of these two parties, the discontent of the people towards the political elites is still ongoing, and the climate of twitching and polarized attitude among the Spanish citizens is maybe even in its highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis. This situation, along with the Catalonian crisis in the last two years has facilitated the growth of VOX, a far-right party which is getting stronger every day.
Former research from Catherine MacMillan have argued that the leader of Podemos is a charismatic leader (MacMillan, 2017). His appearance makes him populistic, a revolutionary, a man of the people, a godlike persona and carnivalesque (MacMillan, 2017). MacMillan in her paper also argues that Podemos have trades of populism, which shown by Cash Mudde´s research, such as his populist zeitgeist (Macmillan, 2017) (Mudde, 2004).
We will therefore be using MacMillan research for a criticism towards her argumentation of Pablo Iglesias charismatic trades and we will also be criticizing her description of Podemos political strategies as carnivalistic. Although we agree with her on the line that Podemos is populist political party and uses populist rhetoric which can be supported by Cas Mudde´s Research and his theories.
We will also try to explain how this populist discourse lacked the traditional trickster behavior could be the reason of the failure of Podemos and Ciudadanos in their aim of attracting the discontent citizens. We will also try to answer the question about if there is any reason which explains that this isolated case of populism has been born specifically in Spain, and if this fact has anything to do with the Spanish political and historical background.
Populism, performance and affect. The study of Ciudadanos and Podemos populist trades., 2018
Spain was highly affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, which had dreadful and devastating... more Spain was highly affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, which had dreadful and devastating consequences for the population. The political and the social scene was in constant change. The agitation provoked a drastic rise in social movements in the country (Vicenç Navarro, 2013). The two-party political system active in Spain during its democratic period couldn’t resist this agitational climate and deep suffering that was changing the political climate for the first time since the end of the dictatorship in 1978.
Therefore, this time the demonstrations and social anger provoked a breakdown in Spanish politics and gave birth to new political parties which tried to attract all the discontent and skeptical voters. The first one of them was Podemos, born directly from the 15-M movement and founded in January 2014 by a group of left-wing scholars. As kind of response to it, the Catalonian platform founded in 2006 Ciudadanos burst strongly in the political scene as right-wing alternative to Podemos, presenting themselves as “the sensible change”. (Orriols and Cordero, 2016).
Both parties quickly changed completely the Spanish political landscape. In the 2015 general elections Podemos and Ciudadanos achieved 42 and 40 seats in the Parliament and occupied most of the media attention (La Información, 2015).
Both parties and specially their leaders: Pablo Iglesias in Podemos and Albert Rivera in Ciudadanos can be defined as populist (Mudde, 2004). In this paper we will aim to analyze their populist discourse through specific fragments and literature which define this label, in the context of the rise of populist parties in the European politics. However, we will light the peculiarity of this case of populism, since these political actors lack the typical bad manners, bad behavior, trickster traits and colorful language that are common among the most well-known populist politicians like Trump, Hugo Chávez and Poujade (Willefordd, 1969).
Despite this change of the political Spanish landscape since the birth of these two parties, the discontent of the people towards the political elites is still ongoing, and the climate of twitching and polarized attitude among the Spanish citizens is maybe even in its highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis. This situation, along with the Catalonian crisis in the last two years has facilitated the growth of VOX, a far-right party which is getting stronger every day.
Former research from Catherine MacMillan have argued that the leader of Podemos is a charismatic leader (MacMillan, 2017). His appearance makes him populistic, a revolutionary, a man of the people, a godlike persona and carnivalesque (MacMillan, 2017). MacMillan in her paper also argues that Podemos have trades of populism, which shown by Cash Mudde´s research, such as his populist zeitgeist (Macmillan, 2017) (Mudde, 2004).
We will therefore be using MacMillan research for a criticism towards her argumentation of Pablo Iglesias charismatic trades and we will also be criticizing her description of Podemos political strategies as carnivalistic. Although we agree with her on the line that Podemos is populist political party and uses populist rhetoric which can be supported by Cas Mudde´s Research and his theories.
We will also try to explain how this populist discourse lacked the traditional trickster behavior could be the reason of the failure of Podemos and Ciudadanos in their aim of attracting the discontent citizens. We will also try to answer the question about if there is any reason which explains that this isolated case of populism has been born specifically in Spain, and if this fact has anything to do with the Spanish political and historical background.
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Therefore, this time the demonstrations and social anger provoked a breakdown in Spanish politics and gave birth to new political parties which tried to attract all the discontent and skeptical voters. The first one of them was Podemos, born directly from the 15-M movement and founded in January 2014 by a group of left-wing scholars. As kind of response to it, the Catalonian platform founded in 2006 Ciudadanos burst strongly in the political scene as right-wing alternative to Podemos, presenting themselves as “the sensible change”. (Orriols and Cordero, 2016).
Both parties quickly changed completely the Spanish political landscape. In the 2015 general elections Podemos and Ciudadanos achieved 42 and 40 seats in the Parliament and occupied most of the media attention (La Información, 2015).
Both parties and specially their leaders: Pablo Iglesias in Podemos and Albert Rivera in Ciudadanos can be defined as populist (Mudde, 2004). In this paper we will aim to analyze their populist discourse through specific fragments and literature which define this label, in the context of the rise of populist parties in the European politics. However, we will light the peculiarity of this case of populism, since these political actors lack the typical bad manners, bad behavior, trickster traits and colorful language that are common among the most well-known populist politicians like Trump, Hugo Chávez and Poujade (Willefordd, 1969).
Despite this change of the political Spanish landscape since the birth of these two parties, the discontent of the people towards the political elites is still ongoing, and the climate of twitching and polarized attitude among the Spanish citizens is maybe even in its highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis. This situation, along with the Catalonian crisis in the last two years has facilitated the growth of VOX, a far-right party which is getting stronger every day.
Former research from Catherine MacMillan have argued that the leader of Podemos is a charismatic leader (MacMillan, 2017). His appearance makes him populistic, a revolutionary, a man of the people, a godlike persona and carnivalesque (MacMillan, 2017). MacMillan in her paper also argues that Podemos have trades of populism, which shown by Cash Mudde´s research, such as his populist zeitgeist (Macmillan, 2017) (Mudde, 2004).
We will therefore be using MacMillan research for a criticism towards her argumentation of Pablo Iglesias charismatic trades and we will also be criticizing her description of Podemos political strategies as carnivalistic. Although we agree with her on the line that Podemos is populist political party and uses populist rhetoric which can be supported by Cas Mudde´s Research and his theories.
We will also try to explain how this populist discourse lacked the traditional trickster behavior could be the reason of the failure of Podemos and Ciudadanos in their aim of attracting the discontent citizens. We will also try to answer the question about if there is any reason which explains that this isolated case of populism has been born specifically in Spain, and if this fact has anything to do with the Spanish political and historical background.
Therefore, this time the demonstrations and social anger provoked a breakdown in Spanish politics and gave birth to new political parties which tried to attract all the discontent and skeptical voters. The first one of them was Podemos, born directly from the 15-M movement and founded in January 2014 by a group of left-wing scholars. As kind of response to it, the Catalonian platform founded in 2006 Ciudadanos burst strongly in the political scene as right-wing alternative to Podemos, presenting themselves as “the sensible change”. (Orriols and Cordero, 2016).
Both parties quickly changed completely the Spanish political landscape. In the 2015 general elections Podemos and Ciudadanos achieved 42 and 40 seats in the Parliament and occupied most of the media attention (La Información, 2015).
Both parties and specially their leaders: Pablo Iglesias in Podemos and Albert Rivera in Ciudadanos can be defined as populist (Mudde, 2004). In this paper we will aim to analyze their populist discourse through specific fragments and literature which define this label, in the context of the rise of populist parties in the European politics. However, we will light the peculiarity of this case of populism, since these political actors lack the typical bad manners, bad behavior, trickster traits and colorful language that are common among the most well-known populist politicians like Trump, Hugo Chávez and Poujade (Willefordd, 1969).
Despite this change of the political Spanish landscape since the birth of these two parties, the discontent of the people towards the political elites is still ongoing, and the climate of twitching and polarized attitude among the Spanish citizens is maybe even in its highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis. This situation, along with the Catalonian crisis in the last two years has facilitated the growth of VOX, a far-right party which is getting stronger every day.
Former research from Catherine MacMillan have argued that the leader of Podemos is a charismatic leader (MacMillan, 2017). His appearance makes him populistic, a revolutionary, a man of the people, a godlike persona and carnivalesque (MacMillan, 2017). MacMillan in her paper also argues that Podemos have trades of populism, which shown by Cash Mudde´s research, such as his populist zeitgeist (Macmillan, 2017) (Mudde, 2004).
We will therefore be using MacMillan research for a criticism towards her argumentation of Pablo Iglesias charismatic trades and we will also be criticizing her description of Podemos political strategies as carnivalistic. Although we agree with her on the line that Podemos is populist political party and uses populist rhetoric which can be supported by Cas Mudde´s Research and his theories.
We will also try to explain how this populist discourse lacked the traditional trickster behavior could be the reason of the failure of Podemos and Ciudadanos in their aim of attracting the discontent citizens. We will also try to answer the question about if there is any reason which explains that this isolated case of populism has been born specifically in Spain, and if this fact has anything to do with the Spanish political and historical background.