Ontological Insecurities and the Politics of Contemporary Populism

This book explores contemporary populist politics through the lens of ontological security theory. It shows that the 'divisionary politics of populism' is fostered by narratives of crisis and insecurity surrounding the imagined Self that gives shape to 'the people' that populism claims to represent.

List of contents

Introduction: Ontological insecurities and the politics of contemporary populism 1. Brexit populism and fantasies of fulfilment 2. Political memory after state death: the abandoned Yugoslav national pavilion at Auschwitz 3. Turkey's ambivalent self: ontological insecurity in 'Kemalism' versus 'Erdöanism' 4. Populism, ontological insecurity and Hindutva: Modi and the masculinization of Indian politics 5. Japanese revisionists and the 'Korea threat': insights from ontological security 6. Welcome home! Routines, ontological insecurity and the politics of US military reunion videos 7. The power of Trump-speak: populist crisis narratives and ontological security 8. The normative threat of subtle subversion: the return of 'Eastern Europe' as an ontological insecurity trope

About the author

Brent J. Steele is the Francis D. Wormuth Presidential Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah, and the co-editor in chief of Global Studies Quarterly. He is the author of Restraint in International Politics, which co-won the ISA Theory section book award for 2020, and the co-author of Vicarious Identity in International.
Alexandra Homolar is Reader of International Security at the University of Warwick. She has published widely on issues at the intersection of language, security, and politics, including in Security Dialogue, European Journal of International Relations, and Review of International Studies. She is the author of The Uncertainty Doctrine: Narrative Politics and US Hard Power after the Cold War.

Summary

This book explores contemporary populist politics through the lens of ontological security theory. It shows that the 'divisionary politics of populism' is fostered by narratives of crisis and insecurity surrounding the imagined Self that gives shape to 'the people' that populism claims to represent.

Product details

• Authors: Brent J. (University of Utah Steele
• Assisted by: Alexandra Homolar (Editor), Homolar Alexandra (Editor), Brent J. Steele (Editor), Steele Brent J. (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2023
• EAN: 9781032450742
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3245074-2
• No. of pages: 176
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Political Parties, PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Political, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Parties, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Democracy, Social & political philosophy, social and political philosophy, Political leaders & leadership, Political structures: democracy, Elections & referenda, Political leaders and leadership, Political parties and party platforms, Elections and referenda / suffrage, Political structures / systems: democracy