Brexit, the NHS and the double-edged sword of populism: Contributor to agonistic democracy or vehicle of ressentiment?

Manuel Hensmans, K. van Bommel

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In this paper we argue that mature political democracies require an agonistic form of populism in order to function. Agonistic populism counters technocratic apathy and instrumental reductionism and provides democracies with discursive legitimacy for the expression of antagonisms. We draw on the exemplary case of Brexit to show how the long-term suppression of English populism by an all-conquering British imperial discourse, and the hegemony of technocratic solutions in Europe, transformed populism’s potentially virtuous agonistic effects into an often anachronistic, toxic and ill-directed ressentiment against the European Union. We call upon management scholars to focus on how popular ressentiment can be used as a force for good in two ways: (1) by contributing agonistically to an alternative, emotionally founded discourse about England, the European Union and a new popular civilizational project that could bind them; and (2) by inducing the creation of collective moral categories embraced across the elite/non-elite divide in the image of the post-World War II National Health Service.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)370-384
JournalOrganization
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Agonism
  • Brexit
  • Chantal Mouffe
  • Ernesto Laclau
  • NHS
  • antagonism
  • populism
  • ressentiment

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Brexit, the NHS and the double-edged sword of populism: Contributor to agonistic democracy or vehicle of ressentiment?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this