Populist desires - SYRIZA and the affective promise of 'the People'
(2019) STVM25 20191Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- This thesis departs from the pressing need for deepening the understanding of the emotional appeal of populism. Focusing on the case of populist party SYRIZA’s rise to government power, it argues that mainstream literature fails to grasp the efficacy and resonance of populist discourse due to its general neglect of the role of affect and subjectivity. In accounting for the impact of populism, this text stresses the need for forwarding a theory of how ideology grips and takes emotional hold of subjects. By turning to psychoanalysis and Jacques Lacan’s theory of the subject as a subject of lack and desire, it is shown how the appeal of SYRIZA’s discourse lied in how it, in the face of a deep crisis, effectively mobilized subject’s desires... (More)
- This thesis departs from the pressing need for deepening the understanding of the emotional appeal of populism. Focusing on the case of populist party SYRIZA’s rise to government power, it argues that mainstream literature fails to grasp the efficacy and resonance of populist discourse due to its general neglect of the role of affect and subjectivity. In accounting for the impact of populism, this text stresses the need for forwarding a theory of how ideology grips and takes emotional hold of subjects. By turning to psychoanalysis and Jacques Lacan’s theory of the subject as a subject of lack and desire, it is shown how the appeal of SYRIZA’s discourse lied in how it, in the face of a deep crisis, effectively mobilized subject’s desires for a whole and stable identity. Ultimately, it is argued, the collective subject of populism, ‘the People’, is constituted by acts of misrecognition through identifications with images of wholeness and completeness offered by populist discourse. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8992092
- author
- Kotsambouikidis, Andreas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVM25 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- SYRIZA, populism, psychoanalysis, affect, desire
- language
- English
- id
- 8992092
- date added to LUP
- 2019-12-02 11:41:28
- date last changed
- 2019-12-02 11:41:28
@misc{8992092, abstract = {{This thesis departs from the pressing need for deepening the understanding of the emotional appeal of populism. Focusing on the case of populist party SYRIZA’s rise to government power, it argues that mainstream literature fails to grasp the efficacy and resonance of populist discourse due to its general neglect of the role of affect and subjectivity. In accounting for the impact of populism, this text stresses the need for forwarding a theory of how ideology grips and takes emotional hold of subjects. By turning to psychoanalysis and Jacques Lacan’s theory of the subject as a subject of lack and desire, it is shown how the appeal of SYRIZA’s discourse lied in how it, in the face of a deep crisis, effectively mobilized subject’s desires for a whole and stable identity. Ultimately, it is argued, the collective subject of populism, ‘the People’, is constituted by acts of misrecognition through identifications with images of wholeness and completeness offered by populist discourse.}}, author = {{Kotsambouikidis, Andreas}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Populist desires - SYRIZA and the affective promise of 'the People'}}, year = {{2019}}, }