According to Marc Lazar, populism is a structural attribute of French political tradition | EUROtoday

Book. Why a lot populism? If, confronted with the proliferation of makes use of of this label with obscure contours, many specialists have concluded that it’s an abuse of language and given up utilizing it, the historian and sociologist Marc Lazar noticed on this omnipresence an extra motive to take the notion – and the political phenomena that it intends to cowl – critically. It’s completed with For the love of the individuals. History of populism in France, Nineteenth-Twenty first century (Gallimard, 320 pages, 22.50 euros), systematic investigation monitoring its demonstrations in France, “ cradle of populism in Europe and one of its favorite lands ».

And indeed, on closer inspection, national history is full of sequences where political actors “ thrive on the antagonism they strive to establish between the minority of elites and the mass of the population »notes the researcher. However, not all populisms are the same. To better bring them together, the author therefore first works to distinguish “full” populism (presenting all or virtually all of the traits of populism) and “intermittent” populism (presenting solely sure facets), right-wing populism and left-wing populism, and even to specify what separates populism from fascism, authoritarianism and illiberalism.

“A mortal threat to democracy”

Once these changes have been made, the populisms of yesteryear and the “neo-populisms” of immediately are patiently examined. The ensuing nice fresco of “French-style” populism alternates well-known episodes of populist outbreaks, such because the Boulangist disaster below the Third^e Republic and the Poujadist journey below IV^eand included some extra sudden ones. Observed by this prism, sure historic sequences are illuminated in a brand new mild. The far-right leagues of the Nineteen Thirties are thus analyzed as variants of “national-populism”, whereas using a sure rhetoric centered on the “people” by the French Communist Party or by General de Gaulle results in contemplating these experiences as “fertile matrices” for subsequent populist resurgences.

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