Politique comparée

B17(a) - Parties, Populism, and Protest

Date: Jun 14 | Heure: 10:15am to 11:45am | Salle: Zoom (see details/voir détails)

Chair/Président/Présidente : Dolunay Bulut (University of Arizona)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Steven Eichenberger (Université de Genève)

Zoom Meeting Link | Meeting ID : 822 8984 7803

Clarifying the Threat of Populism: Place and Party Organizational Strength: Jiajia Zhou (University of Toronto)
Abstract: The rise of populism has been viewed as closely related to instances of democratic backsliding. However, even though populist rhetoric has been observed alongside these worrying trends, the universe of cases does not present clear evidence and explanation for the suggested relationship. Is populism epiphenomenal to the rise of new parties and issues? In this paper, I investigate the relationship between party organizational strength and populist electoral success. I attempt to bridge the gap between micro-level theories of politician strategy and voter demands and macro-level theories of crisis and globalization through an understanding of local party strength and support for populism. I test my hypotheses by examining within-country variation in Japan. I utilize measures for party organizational strength and party-voter linkages in a municipal-level panel dataset across seven lower house elections, two of which occurred during the leadership of an anti-elite populist maverick in Japan’s dominant party. This paper contributes to literature on place-related determinants of populist support and questions existing views of the populist threat as uniquely tied to a particular ideology or the challenges of globalization. More broadly, the paper aims to bring clarity to questions of a phenomenon that may involve both genuine pursuits of stronger representation and potential threats to democratic stability.

Left-Wing Parties and Cultural Issues : From Fragmentation to Aggregation ? A Comparative Analysis of the Positioning of Québec Solidaire and La France Insoumise: Olivier Salomon (Université de Montréal)
Abstract: It is sometimes asserted that left-wing parties have become too focused on cultural issues at the expense of socio-economic concerns and thus, that they would be less able to win elections. This leads us to think that for left-wing parties, the positioning on cultural issues such as immigration, antiracism, minority rights, and secularism is a strategic dilemma and from a scientific perspective, a research puzzle to explore. The paper proposed addresses this topic by analysing in a comparative perspective the positioning of two parties, Québec Solidaire and La France Insoumise ; and asks : how these two parties articulate cultural and socio-economic issues ? Relying on semi-structured interviews with executive members of both parties, on an analysis of the programs and platforms, and on documental research, this paper examines to what extent the positioning on cultural issues of these two parties have evolved over time, why there had been such an evolution and what is the strategic rationale that drives the positioning of these two parties on cultural issues. It allows us to identify the mechanisms by which the positioning of a party changes, and how parties deal with changing conceptions of emancipation that come from the intellectual field and from social movements. On a theoretical level, this research thus brings together literature about changing conceptions of emancipation, secularity and antiracism and the classic literature about political parties. It also addresses the puzzle of how political parties adapt to a multi-dimensional political space and to the growing importance of socio-cultural cleavages.