A critical, interdisciplinary debate on populism and anti-populism by scholars at a workshop hosted by Kent Law School’s Research Group on Philosophy, Political Theology and Law, is recounted in a comprehensive blog post with links to audio recordings of panel papers and discussions.
The post on ‘Politics in the age of the double-bind: Anti-elitism and anti-populism‘ is written by Kent Law School PhD students Elena Paris and Christos Marneros, with Dr Zartaloudis.
Elena and Christos were among 40 international scholars who attended last month’s workshop, organised by Dr Zartaloudis, to discuss the populist movements and what it means to think of a politics of populism or anti-populism. Questions asked included; what is the position of populism within the sphere of politics in contemporary society? What is its role in the evolution of political and philosophical thinking? And what consequences may be entailed through current waves of populist politics for the future evolutions of the concept and practice of democracy?
In the introduction to the blog post, Elena, Christos and Dr Zartaloudis write: ‘In response today to the omnipresence of populism(s) and endless debates about (with and against) populism, the workshop aimed to discuss the main categorical division as to whether populist movements need to be inscribed on a map based upon the traditional divides (eg right and left, liberalism and democracy etc), or as demanding a wholly new cartography, one where populism appears as the counter-power to social elitism, the political establishment and mainstream media. And even then, the workshop aimed to ask, what would that mean for the attentive measuring of both elitism and anti-elitism, populism and anti-populism.’
The workshop opened with an introduction by Dr Zartaloudis, Reader in Legal History and Theory at Kent, and a keynote talk by KLS Honorary Fellow Dr Anthon Schütz. It was addressed by 13 speakers drawn from the disciplines of legal theory, political philosophy, literature, constituitional theory, cultural studies and religious studies.
Dr Schütz’s talk, together with all four panel discussion held during the day, are available to listen to again on Kent Law School’s Soundcloud page:
- Keynote talk: Dr Anthon Schütz
- Panel 1: chaired by Dr Iain MacKenzie from Kent’s School of Politics and International Relations, featured: Professor Yannis Stavrakakis (School of Political Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); Professor William Watkin (University of Brunel, Philosophy & Literature); and Associate Professor Emeritus Angus McDonald (Staffordshire University)
- Panel 2: chaired by Elena, featured: Dr Michael Clemens (Australia National University; School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics); Dr Tamara Cãrãuș (University of Bucharest); and Dr Gian-Giacomo Fusco (KLS)
- Panel 3: chaired by Dr John Ackerman (KLS), featured: Professor Agata Bielik-Robson (University of Nottingham), Dr Ward Blanton from Kent’s School of Religious Studies; and Professor David Ayers from Kent’s School of English.
- Panel 4: chaired by Dr Anton Schütz featured: Dr Thorben Päthe (University of Zurich); Dr Julia Ng (Goldsmiths, English and Comparative Literature); and Professor Carsten Juhl (University of Copenhagen)
The workshop was supported and sponsored by a number of the Law School’s research centres and groups: The Research Group on Philosophy, Political Theology and Law (formerly CRIPT – the Centre for Research in Political Theology at Birkbeck College); Social Critiques of Law (SoCriL); and Kent’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies (KISS).
Workshop organisers hope to produce an edited collection of all the contributions and plan to renew the meeting at Kent next year. Interested parties can contact Dr Zartaloudis: t.zartaloudis@kent.ac.uk