Populisme als buitengewone politiek: naar een Weberiaanse interpretatie. (Dutch/Flemish)

Populism as extraordinary politics: Toward a Weberian interpretation. (English)

The article opens with the thesis that the populist representation of political space is founded on three master terms, i.e. 'people', 'leader', and 'political elite'. Within the so-called populist triangle, the people and the leader constitute the base line, and are united in their struggle against the political establishment. Three particular variants of populism are further discussed - ethnopopulism, civic populism, and social-economic populism. After some brief remarks on the principal tensions between populist politics and representative democracy, the article argues for a broader contextualization of populism. M. Canovan already related the recurrent waves of populism to the structural tension between 'the two faces of democracy', or the difference between a 'pragmatic politics' and a 'redemptive' politics that strives for the restoration of 'the power of the people'. This distinction is linked to Max Weber's ideal-types of a politics based respectively on an 'ethic of responsibility' and an 'ethic of principled conviction' which corresponds with his more general distinction between goal-rational and value-rational action. However, the process of goal rationalization unavoidably results in a growing domination of political bureaucracy and responsible political action. According to Weber, this tendency should be countered by strong political leaders who commit themselves to clear values but are also able to combine this attitude with a more pragmatic stance. Weber's plea for a so-called 'leadership democracy', which was inspired by the American presidential regime, is further put into perspective by A. Kalyvas' notion of extraordinary politics. Populism is then discussed as a particular form of extraordinary politics within the context of so-called 'audience democracy' (B. Manin), in which mass media create an environment that favours populist leaders and their discourse. The article closes with a discussion, illustrated by recent tendencies within European politics, of the chances of combining populist leadership and daily governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populisme kent verschillende variaties op één grondtherna: 'het volk' en haar leider wordt geopponeerd aan een volksvreemde politieke elite. Vanwaar echter de regelmatige opstoterl van politiek populisme? Een retour a Weber leert dat ook de rnoderne politiek almaar sterker wordtgedomineerd door het samenspel tussen doelrationele bureaucratie en pragmatische politici. Allen voldoende krachtige leiders die een sterke waardegerichtheid met verantwoordelijk handelen weten te combineren, zouden deze tendens kunnen keren. Webers pleidooi voor een leiderschapsdemocratie naarAmerikaans presidentieel model krijgt meer relief wanneer ze wordt kortgesloten op de notie van buitengewone politiek (A. Kalyvas). Populisme is een vorm van buitengewone politiek bin nen de context van een publieksdemocratie. Daarbinnen fungeren de massamedia als een geelgende broedplaats voor populistische leiders en hun vaak provocatieve stijl Het valt echter nog te bezien hoe levensvatbaar het eventuele huwelijk is tussen populistische politiek en dagelijks bestuur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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