RE-EUROPEIZING EUROPE

http://almudenas.website/index.php/2018/04/18/re-europeizing-europe/

In the scholar arena of political studies, the notion of Populism seems clear. It is generally used when it comes to defining either political regimes headed by strong leaders who pretend to represent ‘the people’ as the case of Peron in Argentina, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and other leaders from different countries. Also, the political discourse, particularly of the far-right, populism arises during times of economic difficulty, as it is the case in several European countries like France, Austria, Hungary, The Netherlands or the independence movement of Catalonia in Spain. When the subjects who speak are the political actors, it is observed that the term ‘populist’ is used by both the right and the left, to stigmatize the opponent, or to self-defend against adverse stigmatization.

For the right-wing, the left is populist because it manipulates the working and less fortunate classes

for the left-wing, the right is populist because it manipulates the middle classes with discourses seeking to generate the most primitive emotion: the fear.