Author Meets Critics: New Laclaudian takes Populism, Hegemony and Performativity

This roundtable is exploring new research on Populism from the perspective of Laclaudian political theory. Each of the presenters make a contribution to the field, covering different aspects of what is possible to gain with such a knowledge. Ernesto Laclau, who twenty years earlier published a book On Populism, has continued to inspire and irritate populism scholars globally. There are several dimensions to cover, and current research in newly published books are also contributing to these. Populism has been associated with the way in which leaders communicate with the masses but also manage to generate a horizontal contacts in articulating the people. Performativity of populist rule in power is highlighted by Giorgos Venizelos who compares populism of Trump in power to that if the left populism of SYRIZA in Greece. Furthermore, what is important in the post-Gramscian theory is its connection to hegemony. Samuel Mazzoleni outlines the political strategy for the Left emerging from Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's work and how it can be turned into a political praxis. In this emancipation s central. Yet, at the core of the conceptualisation of populism for Laclau is the idea of populism as a logic. In her new book, which was more than twenty years in the making, as it started in Laclau's PhD semnars, Emilia Palonen uncovers the way in which populism can be used as a heuristic tool to understand - as well as to contribute to - the building of political platforms and mobilising in party politics. She outlines the emergence of polarisation in Hungary, prior to Viktor Orbán's take over of Hungarian politics in Europe removing the form of populism from the ontic content. The panel also envisions futures for populism, democracy and counterhegemonic movements.