In search of a radical democratic political vision in Europe: the role of left populism

‘Populism’ is trending: in academic journal articles and books, in politicians’ speeches, in commentators’ discourse. Everyone seems to have something to say about the phenomenon of populist politics, about populist politicians, movements, and parties. As a result, the meaning of the term varies and covers a wide range of events and personalities, depending on context, authors, and objects of analysis. 

Marina Prentoulis offers a clear, well-articulated argument that attempts to fix our understanding of this polyvalent term. Populism, she argues, is simply a political logic, a way of doing politics that carries no derogatory or positive connotations in itself. As she says, ‘it is the particular content that makes it good or bad’. Prentoulis is interested especially in left populism and employs a simple, engaging, and effective method to study its manifestations: she looks at concrete cases — Greece, Spain, and the UK — and analyses interviews she has conducted with politicians, activists, and journalists, combining these with the analysis of political documents. This collated material enables her to identify populist political, rhetorical and electoral strategies employed as a response to the context of the 2007-8 financial crisis. But the purpose is to go beyond these particular cases and contextual analysis. Indeed, Prentoulis uses them in order to draw some general principles of left populism, while not losing sight neither of the dynamic of the term nor of the diversity that characterises the three selected case studies. 

This short and sharp book will appeal to different audiences. Those unfamiliar with the vast — and fast-growing — literature on populism will find in it an accessible, yet intellectually engaging introduction to some of the key themes and movements of left populism in Europe in the last few years. Prentoulis takes nothing as a given; respecting her readers (and their time), she draws on key readings of the relevant scholarship but without getting into tiresome details and provides a clear, working definition of populism pertinent to contemporary political life. Students who research populism will particularly benefit from reading the first chapters of this book, which will introduce them to some key debates in the field. Those more seasoned to these debates, will appreciate the wealth of primary data that this book includes, as well as the informed discussion of the conditions that enable and constrain left populist leaders. And yet those interested in practical aspects of left populist politics, will find in this book a lively discussion of empirical issues aspiring populists are confronted with, not least the tension between the horizontal modes of operating pertinent to movements and the challenges that political parties face in their attempts to gain electoral support. 

Prentoulis offers an analysis that navigates debates and tensions in a careful and informed way. She clearly has a deep understanding of the synergies required between parties and grassroots movements; of the different political traditions that inform varieties of left populism; and of the role that radical visions can play in invigorating democracy, at least within the contemporary European context. A particularly interesting stream of thought unfolds when Prentoulis turns her attention to the promises of municipalism, where her idealism meets her pragmatism. Without painting a bleak picture of the future, Prentoulis acknowledges the limits that this particular approach has within the existing neoliberal framework. Left populism does not have to be utopian, but can certainly look to visions that offer alternatives for which there are no available blueprints. 

One of the greatest virtues of this book is that one does not need to be a scholar of populism or even an academic to engage with it. Prentoulis productively brings together the work of the academic with the insight of the activist to prove that the best political writing happens when theory and empirical analysis merge. Reading this book in the time of a global pandemic makes the reader wonder what this contingent event can bring for left populist movements. But it seems that the transnational left-populist vision that Prentoulis advocates, with the principles of solidarity and cooperation that infuse it, resonates particularly well with the current circumstances.