Towards a transnational populism. A chance for the rebirth of European democracy? The case of DiEM25

Despite the growing interest in populism, transnational populism remains under-researched and is often being perceived as a paradox. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of the concept of transnational populism by examining its specificity and applicability as well as the prospects of its manifestation in the present conjuncture. The first step towards envisaging populism beyond the horizon of the nation-state is to distinguish it from other forms of antagonistic politics such as nationalism and nativism. By drawing upon the Essex School of Discourse Analysis that perceives populism as a discursive logic detached from any ideological or site-specific content, the thesis argues that populism is not necessarily tethered to the national level. It introduces a framework for studying populism across and beyond the nation-state by differentiating trans- from inter- and post-national populism(s). This contributes to the development of the notion of transnational populism and sheds light on the aporia of a ‘transnational people’.

The thesis aspires to be both theoretical and empirical in scope. The empirical part starts with an examination of the deepening of post-democracy in the European Union during the Eurozone crisis of 2010s. It uses this period to problematise the conditions under which transnational populism has emerged. It assesses the limits of (left) populism on the national level by exploring the failure of Syriza to produce a meaningful change and respond to the crisis of European democracy. The thesis then engages in an in-depth examination of the case of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), the pan-European movement launched by Yanis Varoufakis in 2016. By utilising the analytical tools of the discursive approach, it tests the assumption that DiEM25 constitutes an exemplar for a new type of populism on the transnational level. In doing so, it examines how this transnational articulation of populism can affect Europe’s democratic politics in terms of advancing the formation of a transnational collective identity and expanding party politics on the pan-European level.