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Populist desires - SYRIZA and the affective promise of 'the People'

Kotsambouikidis, Andreas LU (2019) STVM25 20191
Department 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:
author
Kotsambouikidis, Andreas LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM25 20191
year
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}},
}