Keynote Speech of Yannis Stavrakakis, Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Baden-Wuerttemberg.
From the election of Donald Trump and the BREXIT referendum
to the recent Italian elections, 'populism' seems to be the keyword through which
both academic discourse and public debates approach these phenomena. And yet,
this picture is partial, influenced by the eurocentric association between
populism, nationalism and the far right. It ignores other types of populism
that have historically articulated populism with a left-wing, inclusionary
profile. Drawing on Southern European experience, where such movements have
emerged in a crisis-ridden context, this lecture will highlight the need to
move beyond certain stereotypes in populism research, to capture the broader
political antagonisms at stake and to account for the links between populism
and crisis conjunctures.