Understanding Populism

Populism and Religion

In this course, Dr Thomas Sealy (University of Bristol) explores populism and religion. In the first lecture, we think about what populism is, conceptualising it both vertically and horizontally. In the second lecture, we think about the relationship between populism and Christianity in Europe and the United States. In the third lecture, we think about the relationship between populism, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Next, we think about the relationship between populism and Islam in Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about the relationship between far right populism and religion, including how populists can use religion as a tool to gain political traction.

Understanding Populism

In this lecture, we think about what populism is, focusing in particular on: (i) a vertical binary conception of populism, which views the ‘top’ to be the ‘elites’, who are often thought of as corrupt and unconcerned with the lives of those ‘below’ them; (ii) the vertical binary conception of populism having ‘the people’ at the ‘bottom’, who carry pure and virtuous characteristics and who populism seeks to speak for; (iii) a horizontal binary conception of populism, which has an ‘us’ at one end and a ‘them’ at the other; (iv) the common presence of a charismatic leader of the people, against the ‘elites’; (v) the use of religion as a tool in populism to define ‘the people’; (vi) Marzouki and colleagues’ view that populism can ‘hijack’ religion for use to achieve its goals; (vii) identitarian populists, who may use religion as a means by which to identify groups of ‘us’ and ‘them’; (viii) an opposing case, wherein populists use genuine religious frameworks to instil religious programs.