Ece Ozbey: Please Don’t Make Populism Great Again! – Reflections in the Wake of the U.S. Elections
In her first contribution as editor of CEU Democracy Institute’s journal Review of Democracy, Ece Ozbey, from the Budapest hub, reflects on the re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. President.
Trump’s re-election threatens a return to oversaturated and simplistic discussions on populism. Emphasizing nuanced, innovative, and globally informed research over reactionary trends is essential to fully grasp the evolved nature of this intricate concept amid contemporary societal and political complexities, thereby meaningfully strengthening democratic practices in the long term.
As an aspiring scholar of populism navigating the sprawling field, I’m acutely aware – and slightly apprehensive – of how the re-election of Donald Trump, one of the most emblematic politicians of our time, will reignite fervent debates about this ever-contested concept. Conversations already feel like déjà vu: Social media platforms are ablaze with discussions about what Trump’s populism means for the future of democracy, with pundits and academics scrambling to dissect the electoral aftermath using the same conceptual and theoretical tools that flooded our discourse post-2016. Amidst this flurry of activity, I cannot help but wonder: Will we simply be retracing our intellectual steps, or will we genuinely improve our understanding of populism?
2016 Elections and the Obsession with the Populist “Surge”
Donald Trump’s initial election in 2016 catalyzed an explosion of interest in populism. While populist movements had been gaining traction globally, Trump’s victory – together with the Brexit referendum – propelled populism to the forefront of both public consciousness and academic inquiry, culminating in the term being named the Word of the Year by the Cambridge Dictionary in 2017. In the years that followed, the number of publications on populism increased exponentially, not just in political science but across various disciplines. The field became so vibrant – or saturated, depending on whom you ask – that it even warranted the launch of a new academic journal, Populism, dedicated to studying this phenomenon.
Read the full article here.
