Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Peter Učen: Approaching National Populism
Approaching National Populism nation with other ‘thin’ ideologies (e.g. nationalism) or more complex ones such as socialism or conservatism. Due to its restricted class of core concepts, populism is not what one would refer to as a practical ideology capable of providing a complex political programme for contemporary polities (should one choose to address Blokker’s doubts above). Even though for some it may come as a bit of disappointment to define populism as ‘merely’ ideology, not very dominant one into the bargain, the research undertaken within this school, however scant so far, seems to suggest noteworthy advantages. For example, it naturally expects populist ideology to be identified in party messages in a combination with elements of other ideologies. Thus, in term of analysis, it does away with both a need to spot ‘pure’ and ‘true’ populist parties and with a drive to cumulate all possible characteristics of populist politics under one heading. In practical terms, treating populism as a distinct ideology means trying to recognise the presence of its core concepts in the messages of parties and leaders; identifying the manifold forms those concepts may assume; and finally, disentangling their interplay with components of other ideologies present in those messages. Put otherwise, identification of the core concepts facilitates analytical treatment of diversity within populism. Variety which the core concepts themselves may manifest gives a promise of successfully accounting for an array of real-life cases of populism. While all ‘populisms’ have to be similar in sharing the four basic concepts, they may (and indeed will) differ in their manifestations and relative weight. Populist arguments are at variance as to how they define the people and elite (who belongs to it, who does not, and why so) and what is the exact form of their antagonistic relationship (how elites may hanu people). Being far from complete, the list of possible distinctions should also include the means to be used to restore the primacy of people in the political realm. All of above metamorphoses of the populist core concepts are to be found in ‘real-life populisms’ combined with ideological elements of other ideologies, into the bargain. Even though better conceptualizations may arise in times to come, this one seems to be particularly well equipped for carrying on case and comparative studies needed to cope with the proliferation of ‘populisms’ in post-Communist world.5 As we have seen, the populist radical right proved to be too exclusive a concept to embrace the empirical wealth of post-Communist national populism in Slovakia. As it will be showed later, populism, in turn, is too inclusive to meet the task.6 Therefore, the next territory to be explored is that of nationalism. 19
