Complex Futures: Problems and Performance of Populism

Jan-Werner Müller, Was ist Populismus? Ein Essay. Surhkamp. 2016. 160 pages. ISBN 9783518075227. Benjamin Moffitt, Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation. Stanford University Press. 2016. 224 pages. ISBN 9780804799331. To compare these two books is a challenge, as one is a pamphlet by an estab- lished scholar of European history and politics, and the other is based on a doctoral thesis of a young political scientist hailed as one of the most impor- tant up and coming authors on populism. To start, I would agree with these judgments. Both have already made their name on their new books even if they are addressed to di erent audiences. Jan-Werner Müller’s book is titled What is Populism? (For this review I have read the original German version Was ist Populismus? – Ein Essay). Ben- jamin Mo tt’s book seeks to answer the same question. Although its title is not equally conclusive or manifest, this book neither shies away with its title: e Global Rise of Populism. e crucial distinction between the two books is visible in the titles. It is on the nexus of essentialism and anti-essentialism. One sees populism as a question of what is and what not, while the other deals with its dynamics. e Global Rise has the subtitle: Performance, Politi- cal Style, and Representation. Populism is not a question of is or not but about articulation and representation. It is something performative rather than a state of a airs. In his “essay”, Jan-Werner Müller is interested in establishing a concept and moral stance of populism rather than exploring its historical basis or articu- lations. Examples of populism are presented as support for the thesis. Meine ese is in short that populism is an anti-establishment attitude with exclusive claim to be representing the people. e evidence, that in a pamphlet is more anecdotal than rigorous, is interesting, well argued and clever. I share much of Müller’s concerns. But I worry that, perhaps in his need to de ne populism in a particular way, he is actually re-mystifying rather than demystifying what is going on under the heading of populism. e People (Volk) is a dangerous word, as he points out with reference to Claude Lefort and the French Revolu- tion (Müller, 2016: 86). [...]