Left-populism: one name, different interpretations

Left-wing Populism: The Politics of the People is one of the first systematic endeavours analysing what remains an undeservingly understudied political practice: populism in its leftist variant In this sense, the book has several merits, as the theoretical and empirical dimensions that compose the phenomenon are savvily interwoven in the text The latter is particularly well developed: the path of a variety of progressive political subjects across Europe is meticulously reconstructed in the light of their choice to undertake, more or less decidedly, the populist route, with special but by no means exclusive mention of the paradigmatic cases of Syriza, Podemos and France lnsoumise. The book thus well recounts the salient moments of left populism progression in the 2014- 2019 period, as well as the polemics that it has attracted from the radical left and the thematic cruxes that its concrete deployment has posed. 

 By collecting the different stances at stake, Left-wing Populism provides a fair and illustrative cataloguing of these discussions straddling between the theoretical and the empirical This effort arguably constitutes the major contribution of the book. This does not mean that the author refrains from putting forward his own original views on a number of controversial questions. I will start from those on which I'm in agreement with. Populism - of any ideological sort - has shown a high dependence on the figure of the leader. While relatively unproblematic for the right it shouldn't be so for the left This tendency has fostered vertical structures and plebiscitarianism, while making left populist subjects more vulnerable in the medium-long run. This doesn't mean that leaders are of no value - far from it - as they act as catalysts that unhinge political inertia. It simply means that checks and balances, as well as a more serene management of internal debates, should be achieved.

 On this and other accounts, Garcia Agustin is right in highlighting the defective 'translation' (or interpretation) of the Latin American experiences into the European context. Latin America has in fact been a crucial source of inspiration insofar as European left-populism is concerned - maybe too crucial to dedicate only a few pages to it - , but its 'lessons' have been too hastily applied. Another such example regards, in my opinion, the spot-on critique of the author to the excessive focus of left populism on discursive-communicative struggle to the detriment of organisational forms and practices. In many instances, left-populism has implied the abandonment of the task of rooting in society, in the belief that the struggle of frames, the paradiastolic redescription of the situation would suffice. Instead. much of the political territory gained through what was, borrowing from Gramsci's terminology, a 'war of manoeuvre', was not retained because left populists hardly thought in terms of 'war of position'. Although overdetermined, I believe this being the chief cause behind the evident signs of exhaustion displayed by left populism in Europe at the end of this 5-year cycle.

 Before proceeding to the disagreements, I would also like to mention in passing the praiseworthy proposition of a republican populism, where by the destructuring impetus of the former is complemented by the creation of a new institutionality of the latter. In this regard, I found the highlighting of the similarities over the differences between Mouffe, Villacañas and Fernandez Liria particularly felicitous.

 It is on the issue of the nation-state where our views diverge. Garcia Agustín is persuaded by the necessity of a transnational populism. I believe that it is a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron. But let's pay heed to his line of reasoning. While sympathetic toward calls for popular sovereignty, the author is sceptical of the possibility of relocating it at the national level, because globalisation has de-nationalised the economy. As a result, national efforts to fight against neoliberalism are doomed to backfire unless supplemented by a transnational practice capable of facing up to global challenges.

 My quarrel with this argument is twofold. The first problem is that we lack a concrete political ambit where such a cosmopolitan progressive elan could be effectively deployed. The only force capable of acting efficiently at that level is capital While municipal spaces are important, the State remains the most potent tool available for the left Buying the argument of its obsolescence is a surrender to the neoliberals, who remain instead very much interested in its control Of course, at times this may not be enough, as in the Greek case, but structural changes always happen when a number of countries, whose political temporalities inevitably differ, undergo change. While internationalism here is badly needed, transnationalism amounts to building a house from the roof down. Moreover, we shouldn't forget asymmetries in the European Union. The fiscal dumping of the Netherlands, the mercantilist policy of Germany and the depressive effects of the Euro have all too real effects on the welfare of the peoples of the South of the continent. We shouldn't be afraid of denouncing this clearly and opting out of neoliberal institutional devices. Mutatis mutandis, anti-imperialism has never entailed racism.

 The second question is of an aesthetic character. It is my intimate conviction that we should be wary of experiments that overwhelmingly attract the interest of left-wing intellectuals. Conditions of possibility for political subjectivation should be considered: that a Greek candidate organising fancy gatherings at city-centre theatres might be liked by German minijobbers is beyond belief. 'Creating a people' will be possible only to the extent that such an effort resonates with the downtrodden by globalisation. But the real, not the projected ones: this is why cultural, historical national elements of belonging cannot be left out in the political construction and treated as an unacceptable and inherently rightwing atavism. It will be the left populists' duty to rework these elements in a progressive direction.