The book Anatomy of Populism by Matti Mörttinen and Yannick Lahten does a comprehensive autopsy on the way populists do politics.
Show strongly that radical right-wing populist parties are a permanent part of western representative democracy. For example, in Italy, the Italian Brothers party, which has been accused of being far-right, even fascist, is in power, and in the United States, the Republican Party is Donald Trump’s since the rise, has become more and more radical in its right-wing orientation.
In Finland, on the other hand, Perussuomalaiset is most likely going to join the government as part of a coalition. It is interesting to see how a sustainable government would emerge in Finland on this basis and how being in the government would affect the politics and support of basic Finns.
“After all, a coalition government is always needed in Finland, and that requires the skill of compromise and the ability to compromise on one’s own views, which is difficult for populist movements everywhere,” says the journalist and nonfiction writer Matti Mörttinen.
From Mörttinen and researcher Yannick from Lahti a book titled Anatomy of Populism (Zeal). It is an autopsy in the form of a non-fiction book on the political phenomenon that characterizes our time.
Supplier and nonfiction writer.
Worked more than three decades in Aamulehti.
Written by previously the books First – women who carved a career in Finland (2022), Shlomo Zabludowicz – from the horrors of the Holocaust to a mysterious Finnish billionaire (2021) and together with Lauri Nurme Antti Rinne – the whole story (2019) and Sauli Niinistö – Mäntyniemen herra (2018).
Yannick Lahti
Doctor of research at the University of Helsinki. Doctorate at the University of Bologna on European populist political communication.
Lahti and Mörttinen The Anatomy of Populism information book (Into) was published on April 12.
For the authors, populism is not an ideology in itself. It is more a way of doing politics, especially a way of speaking, writing and being present. Populism consists of certain common phrases, whether the populist movement came from the left, the center or the right.
in Finland According to Mörttinen, populism started from the anxiety of small farmers. In the first parliamentary elections in 1907, the newly established rural association won nine MPs. The most visible, heard and followed of them was Kalle Kustaa Pykälä, who was as much a politician as a stand-up comedian. His stories not only made the listeners laugh, but also instilled slogans in the voters, such as “gentlemen should always be fooled”. Pykälä seemed to have a very good skill in confrontation, which is really the only thing that unites populists in different parts of the world.
Yannick Lahti, who defended his thesis on European populism and political communication at the University of Bologna, even presented the formula of populism at his dissertation conference in June 2022. In that, “society” consists of “us” and “them”. “The people” is “us” without “them”. The formula is very universal. For example, in the United States, the radical Republicans’ “we” means white American citizens, while “they” means the Mexicans coming to the country over the southern border. For basic Finns, “we” can mean, for example, working Finnish citizens and pensioners, “them” can mean immigrants and refugees.
According to Mörttinen, the rise of populism is always connected to media upheavals, whether it was the rise of newspapers in the 19th century, the advent of radio and especially television, and in our time the internet and social media. According to Mörttinen, politics and journalism have always had a fateful connection, but the relationship between populism and journalism is more complicated.
“Populism also needs the media as an image of the enemy. This is the thing that the media has struggled with all along and still hasn’t figured out the best way to deal with populism,” says Mörttinen.
What about a decades-long journalistic career In Aamulehti done by Mörttinen himself recommends to the media as an action model in dealing with populism? According to him, at least being silent, ranting or questioning doesn’t really work and what works the least is complacency.
“I haven’t come up with anything better than that with the same criteria and the same principles as any other policy.”
In olo does not seem to do any better for populist movements and their support than for other parties. If the coalition and the Basic Finns enter the same government, the latter will have to give in at least a little in terms of facilitating work-related immigration, which is an important issue for the coalition. Corresponding compromises might affect the basic essence of the entire populist party. For example, in the election debates, the chairman of Basic Finns Riikka Purra interestingly accused the prime minister Sanna Marinia (sd) about populism.
“It seems that Purra does not consider his own party to be populist, unlike, say, Timo Soiniwho proudly wore the mantle of populist,” says Mörttinen.
If populism begins to dissolve among basic Finns, where will populism pop its head out next like a cesspool, as Soini once described the phenomenon. In response to the question, Mörttinen ponders what will happen to the successor of the Finnish Farmers’ Union, which suffered a crushing defeat in the elections, the center of Finland, and makes a wild guess:
“If the bastards have now taken over the regions of Finland and if they are now becoming a moderate alternative for the regions, then it could be that the center will become the new populist party. It would be a kind of return to the roots for the center, to the role of Kalle Kustaa Pykälä.”
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