Bringing together diverse voices to develop innovative scholarship and effective, progressive political strategies.

At a time when new political actors are mounting electoral and increasingly systemic challenges to contemporary democracies in the name of “the people”, there is little consensus on the meaning of populism among academics, political activists and citizens alike. Work on populist phenomena has abounded for close to two decades and has been successful in stimulating an intense interest. But despite, or perhaps because of the extensive and thought-provoking research on the topic, the term has come to denote a range of widely diverse phenomena, from political styles to forms of political organization, modalities of representation, demagoguery, to extend to broader conceptualizations such as being an organizing principle of politics.

How do we make sense of such diverse contributions and propositions? What kinds of threads run through them, if any at all? Are any of these contributions pointing to key elements of a definition, or a looser understanding of populism, while others focus on aspects of lesser centrality, importance or relevance? But also, how do we address the implicit binary distinction in several approaches to populism as well to “commonsense” understandings between populist (read as emotional, instinct-driven, irresponsible) and non-populist (read as logical/rational and responsible) politics which critical approaches to antipopulism alert us to?

#RethinkingPopulism seeks to navigate through this conceptual maze without privileging particular approaches, or underlying definitions of populism. It is the product of a partnership between diverse organizations, academics and commentators that seeks to bring together voices that don’t often interact, either because they belong to different fields of work, or as a result of geographical distance, to contribute to a vigorous and constructive, yet widely accessible debate and the cross-fertilization of different strands within the populism theoretical oeuvre. This is not only in pursuit of theoretical and conceptual clarity, but it is also an issue of practical urgency if we are to develop effective progressive political strategies.

#RethinkingPopulism aims to challenge the monological single-article model and actively foster critical dialogue. It is a space that does not promote any orthodoxy. It is open to diverse voices and opinions among scholars, activists and citizens alike. To this end, it utilises multiple platforms to facilitate debate and make it accessible to diverse publics.

Whether you are merely curious, or a more engaged and informed reader, a potential contributor or interlocutor, your comments, questions and ideas are most welcome. We would love to hear from you.

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