Anxo Garrido

The current health crisis, whose economic consequences seem to preannounce a substantial change in global politics, has furtherly sharpened the perception of those social inequalities that, during the last two decades, have already shaken the neoliberal order of Western democratic societies. During this period of time, the emergence of the elusive phenomenon of populism has been followed by an increasing number of studies, becoming one of the keywords of contemporary political theory. Under the term “populism” a great variety of political experiences, whose main feature is the anti-establishment orientation of their appeal to the “people”, have been gathered together. Accordingly, the manifold nature of populism claims for a philosophical enquire into the current crisis of the representative system.
We welcome papers exploring, on one side, the historical and theoretical antecedents of populism and, on the other side, the limits of populist theories and praxis. Papers focused on the relationship between feminism and populism, and neoliberalism and populism are especially welcomed. All papers giving an original contribution on these and other similar topics are welcomed.

The main purpose of this issue is to develop a genealogical and critical approach to populist theories and practices. We propose to analyze the historical emergency, within the last two centuries, of processes of democratization that lead to different forms of conceiving and theorizing the people and its emancipation. Particularly, we aim to critically engage with the broad spectrum of post-Marxist and post-structuralist theories that, since the groundbreaking work of Ernesto Laclau, have further extended his intellectual legacy. To question this philosophical-political framework should produce an enlargement of the ways of understanding and enacting current democratic challenges, beyond the spectrum of populism.