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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Entre as temáticas que mais atenção tem merecido nos últimos anos por parte de académicos, políticos ou jornalistas encontraremos certamente o populismo, de maneira geral associado à direita do espectro político e encarado como uma crescente ameaça às democracias liberais. No entanto, a realidade de Grécia e Espanha, na sequência da Grande Recessão de 2008 e da posterior crise da Zona Euro, demonstra quão ilusória é semelhante simplificação. Aí, mais do que em quaisquer outros países europeus, observou-se a ascensão meteórica de partidos populistas de esquerda – SYRIZA e Podemos – gerando um novo equilíbrio de forças marcado, à esquerda, pela queda dos partidos tradicionais socialistas e sociais-democratas - PASOK e PSOE. Esse novo equilíbrio de forças foi o tema da presente dissertação. Deste modo, começámos por estudar o fenómeno populista na generalidade, e só depois procurámos compreender a essência do populismo de esquerda em específico, as causas do seu aparecimento e sucesso e a forma como se distingue do populismo de direita e da esquerda clássica. Fizemo-lo maioritariamente de acordo com a abordagem discursiva de Chantal Mouffe e Ernesto Laclau. Numa segunda fase, atentámos nas consequências que a competição entre partidos populistas de esquerda e partidos de centro-esquerda teve a nível eleitoral, programático e estratégico, no seio das duas famílias políticas. Para tal, recorremos a uma série de métodos de observação, entre os quais se destaca a análise quantitativa de discursos e manifestos eleitorais para o cálculo de rácios de populismo. Assim, concluímos que o sucesso de SYRIZA e Podemos contribuiu, não só para piores resultados eleitorais de PASOK e PSOE, mas também para a moderação ideológica e estratégica dos próprios partidos populistas de esquerda e para a adopção de um discurso mais institucionalista, ainda que mais à esquerda, por parte dos sociais-democratas.
Amongst the most widely debated themes across the world of academia, politics or the media, we will certainly find populism, generally associated with right-wing orientations and regarded as a growing threat to liberal democracies. However, the cases of Greece and Spain after 2008’s Great Recession and the Eurozone crisis show how simplistic such notion is. There, more than anywhere else in Europe, what we have witnessed was the rise of left-wing populista parties – SYRIZA and Podemos – alongside the fall of traditional socialist and social democratic parties – PASOK and PSOE – completely reshaping the balance of forces in the left. That very balance was the subject of this dissertation. Therefore, we began with the study of the populist phenomenon in general and only then proceeded to the research on left-wing populism. During that phase we tried to grasp the essence of left-wing populist parties, the causes for their success and what drives them apart from both right-wing populism and traditional left-wing parties. We did this mostly through the lenses of Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau’s discursive approach to populism. In a second stage, our focus were the consequences of the competition between centre-left and left-wing populist parties in terms of their electoral results, political agenda and strategy. In order to do that, we have used a wide range of methods from which we highlight the calculation of populism ratios through quantitative analysis of political speeches and manifestos. As a result, it was clear that SYRIZA and Podemos’ success did contribute to PASOK and PSOE’s poorer electoral performances. However, that very success triggered a process of populist and ideological moderation in the left-wing populist parties and a reverse process of ideological radicalisation, despite lower levels of populist rhetoric, in the social democratic parties.
Amongst the most widely debated themes across the world of academia, politics or the media, we will certainly find populism, generally associated with right-wing orientations and regarded as a growing threat to liberal democracies. However, the cases of Greece and Spain after 2008’s Great Recession and the Eurozone crisis show how simplistic such notion is. There, more than anywhere else in Europe, what we have witnessed was the rise of left-wing populista parties – SYRIZA and Podemos – alongside the fall of traditional socialist and social democratic parties – PASOK and PSOE – completely reshaping the balance of forces in the left. That very balance was the subject of this dissertation. Therefore, we began with the study of the populist phenomenon in general and only then proceeded to the research on left-wing populism. During that phase we tried to grasp the essence of left-wing populist parties, the causes for their success and what drives them apart from both right-wing populism and traditional left-wing parties. We did this mostly through the lenses of Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau’s discursive approach to populism. In a second stage, our focus were the consequences of the competition between centre-left and left-wing populist parties in terms of their electoral results, political agenda and strategy. In order to do that, we have used a wide range of methods from which we highlight the calculation of populism ratios through quantitative analysis of political speeches and manifestos. As a result, it was clear that SYRIZA and Podemos’ success did contribute to PASOK and PSOE’s poorer electoral performances. However, that very success triggered a process of populist and ideological moderation in the left-wing populist parties and a reverse process of ideological radicalisation, despite lower levels of populist rhetoric, in the social democratic parties.
Description
Keywords
Populismo de esquerda Social-democracia Grécia Espanha Grande Recessão Left-wing populism Social democracy Greece Spain Great Recession