Abstract

ATTILI, Antonella. Rhetorics of antidemocracy. Notes on the crisis of public power and emancipation. Andamios [online]. 2020, vol.17, n.42, pp.231-257.  Epub Aug 28, 2020. ISSN 2594-1917.  https://doi.org/10.29092/uacm.v17i42.742.

The main objective of this paper is to point out how and why the same anti-democratic stance appears in different neo-populist, neo-liberal, or neo-conservative contexts. To do this, we enquire in what sense and why “neo-populism” is not democratic, what is “neo-populism,” whether it is identical to “anti-politics,” what is the meaning of anti-politics, and how it relates to neo-populism. Considering the defining elements of modern democracy, that is, what the term “democratic” means today, and why populist democracy is authoritarian, we clarify the causes for the overlap between neo-populism and anti-politics. By establishing the accurate meaning of these terms, we can define the specificity of the new populism, and consider the gravity of the challenges that anti-politics presents to democracy, as well as to the set of public policies required for human emancipation.

Keywords : Democracy; neo-populism; anti-politics; anti-democracy; human emancipation.