In recent years populism has not only become some kind of Zeitgeist, but it has redesigned our beliefs and assumptions concerning liberal democracy. Is seems to be that radical right populism is more successful than leftist populism. According to my hypothesis we have entered the era of populist democracy and there is a fierce competition between the left and right to define and maintain the core nature of this populist democracy. I will apply the well know theory of Empire and Multitude by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2000) to understand our current populist tendencies. It will be argued in my paper that right-wing nationalist populism can be seen as a manifestation of the Empire. According to my understanding the populist parties and movements on the political right belong to the realist conception of the Empire: these actors are seeking the political power and would like to conquer the institutions of global capitalism. Right-wing nationalist populism is neither anti-capitalist, nor anti-elitist. It means that a new political elite has been created (for instance this is Donald Trump and alt-right in the USA, Viktor Orbán and his regime in Hungary) and seeks to gain political power with populist political communication and style. That’s why I call this new phenomenon elitist populism or Empire Populism. These actors are acting like populist in that sense they understand and solve the people’s problems, in fact they serve elitist purposes. On the other hand, the (radical) left populism has been called here a utopian or Multitude Populism. This form of populism tries to concern the multitudes of the people. Occupy movement, Indignados) and DiEM25 have emerged as left populist promises. I will analyse in my paper the political theoretical backgrounds of Empire and Multitude Populism. It has been stated here that the populist right has been inspired by the concepts of Carl Schmitt (the concept of the Political; the nature of neoliberalism; state of exception), Max Weber (leader democracy), and populist constitutionalism. On the left side, the Multitude Populism seems to be frozen from ideological point of view and suffering from ideological emptiness, but transnational populism could fill this theoretical gap. That is why I will put forward my thought on this crisis and argue that populist left needs to reformulate its bases as transnational political communities based on multitude.

1. ECPR General Conference, 6-9 September, 2017, University of Oslo, Norway
EMPIRE AND MULTITUDE POPULISM
The Political and Social Theory of Contemporary
Populism
Attila Antal
Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law Institute of Political Science
and
Institute of Political History Social Theory Research Group
antal.attila@ajk.elte.hu
antal.attila@polhist.hu

2. Overview
1. The Legal and Biopolitical Concept of the New
World Order
2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.1 Theorizing the Populist Democracy
2.2 Empire/elitist Populism (EP)
2.3 Multitude/utopian Populism (MP)
3. Conclusions

3. 1. The Legal and Biopolitical Concept of the
New World Order
• Hardt&Negri (2000): Empire
• New world order caused by globalization
• Global and new form of sovereignty
• Counter-Empire: Multitude

4. 1. The Legal and Biopolitical Concept of the
New World Order
The legal framework of the
Empire
The biopolitical nature of the
Empire
• Capitalist relations fewer
political control
• The nation-state’ soveregnity
has been challenged
• Biopolitical production
• State of
exception/emergency
• Managing the crisis caused
by the Empire
• Right of the police
• Biopolitical and moral
obligation

5. 1. The Legal and Biopolitical Concept of the
New World Order
Alternative within the Empire: Multitude
• Realization of democracy
• Incomplete democratization
• Permanent state of war
• Contest and subvert the Empire
• The production of the common
• Alternative global society

6. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.1 Theorizing Populist Democracy
Paradoxes of Democracy Democratic Illiberalism
• Two-strand model of
constitutional democracy
• Liberal or constitutional pillar
• Own rules, traditions
• The constitutional democracy
fails balancing
• Populist governing and
opposition parties
• Counter-concept of liberal
democracy
(Abts–Rummens, 2007; Mouffe, 2000; Canovan,
1999 and 2002; Mény–Surel, 2002) (Pappas, 2014)

7. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.2 Empire/elitist Populism (EP)
• Right-wing nationalist populism
• Similar charachter
• Elitist populism (Antal, 2017)
• Theoretical pillars of Empire Populism: Carl Schmitt’s
theory of the Political, leader democracy, and populist
constitutionalism

8. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.2 Empire/elitist Populism (EP)
Theory of the
Political
• There is no
consensus in the
political sphere
• The concept of the
enemy
• Political solutions
based on the
sovereign state
• Schmitt, 2007
Leader democracy
• An elitist political
theory centred to
the idea of
personal
leadership
• Personalization of
politics
• Körösényi, 2005
Populist
constitutionalism
• Subtype of
political
constitutionalism
• Exclusionary
project
• Prevail the
Political against
the legal system
• Paul Blokker (n. a.)

9. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.2 Empire/elitist Populism (EP)
Main features of the
Empire/Political Theoretical
Pillars of Empire Populism
Concept of the Political Leader Democracy Populist Constitutionalism
Legal based approach
Partly (the stress on the
political sphere which rule the
legal system)
Yes
Exalt the political in
constitutionalism
Postmodern form of
sovereignty
Even though the People holds
the sovereignty in fact the
political leader acting as a
sovereign
The leader is
sovereign
Based on the political majority
which is a collective, unitary
entity
Biopolitical/immaterial
production
There is no conflict with the global capitalism and the capitalist mode of production

10. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.2 Empire/elitist Populism (EP)
Main features of the
Empire/Political Theoretical
Pillars of Empire Populism
Concept of the Political Leader Democracy Populist Constitutionalism
Biopolitical fixation
Yes, the political leader is entitled to apply
biopolitical instrument
Not typical
State of permanent
exception
The state of exception is
normal state of the politics
where the power of the
sovereign can rule
The leader defines
the exceptional
situation
Not typical
Right of intervention It belongs to the leader’s authority Not typical
Deterritorialization
Basically the concept is limited to the nation-state

11. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.3 Multitude/utopian Populism (MP)
• A theoretical counter-concept
• The left-wing transnational populism is an alternative
possible way towards populist democracy
• Utopian populist framework
• An inclusive concept of political community
• The multitude can be a solution to the dilemma of
transnational populism

12. 2. Rival Concepts in the Populist Democracy
2.3 Multitude/utopian Populism (MP)
The multitude as an empty signifier
• Discursive construction of a popular
subjectivity
• Critique on the liberal political
thought
• The equivalential chain
• Multitude as a transnational form of
empty signifier
• Corrective nature of populism
• Political leadership
The possibilities and difficulties of
transnational populism
• To specify the people “that populists
appeal to and claim to speak for”
• Go beyond the borders of the nation-
state
• Main cohesive force: biopolitical
consequences of social production
• The people has been hurt by the
global capitalism
• Meta-populism and common enemy
creation is far not enough to create
transnational populism
(Laclau, 2005a and 2005b; Panayotu, 2017; Moffitt, 2017)

13. 3. Conclusions
• How can be constructed transnational populism?
• Nationalist populist theoretical heartland
• A hegemonic fight between the political right and left to
maintain the nature of contemporary democracy
• Hegemony in terms of political culture and leading
worldview (Antonio Gramsci)
• “Historic bloc” of the right-wing nationalist forces
• Transnational political identity as a strong counter-
concept
(Moffitt, 2017; Laclau–Mouffe, 1985; Ferraresi, 2016)

14. References
Abts, Koen – Rummens, Stefan (2007): Populism versus Democracy. Political Studies, Vol 55. 405-
424.
Antal, Attila (2017): The Political Theories, Preconditions and Dangers of the Governing Populism
in Hungary. Czech Journal of Political Science, 2017/1. 5–20.
Blokker, Paul (n. a.): Populist Constitutionalism. Forthcoming in: Carlos de la Torre (ed.):
Routledge Handbook of Global Populism, Routledge.
Canovan, Margaret (1999): Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy. Political
Studies, 47 (1), 2–16.
Canovan, Margaret (2002): Taking Politics to the People: Populism as the Ideology of Democracy.
In: Mény, Yves – Surel, Yves (ed.) (2002a): Democracies and the Populist Challenge. New York:
Palgrave, 25–44.
Ferraresi, Giulio (2016): Left populism, Laclau and the case of Podemos. EuVision, 15 December,
2016. http://www.euvisions.eu/populism-laclau-podemos/
Hardt, Michael – Negri, Antonio (2001): Empire. Harvard University Press.
Hardt, Michael – Negri, Antonio (2005): Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire.
Penguin Books.

15. References
Körösényi, András (2005): Political Representation in Leader Democracy. Government and
Opposition, 40, no. 3, 358–378.
Laclau, Ernesto (2005a): Populism: What's in a Name? In: Panizza, Franscisco (ed.) (2005):
Populism and the Mirror of Democracy, London: Verso.
Laclau, Ernesto (2005b): On populist reason. London: Verso.
Laclau, Ernesto – Mouffe, Chantal (1985): Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical
Democratic Politics. London: Verso.
Mény, Yves – Surel, Yves (2002): The Constitutive Ambiguity of Populism. In: Mény, Yves–Surel,
Yves (ed.) (2002): Democracies and the Populist Challenge. New York: Palgrave. 1–24.
Moffitt, Benjamin (2017): Transnational Populism? Representative Claims, Media and the
Difficulty of Constructing a Transnational “People”. Javnost – The Public, DOI:
10.1080/13183222.2017.1330086
Panayotu, Panos (2017): Towards a transnational populism: A chance for European democracy (?)
The case of DiEM25. POPULISMUS Working Papers No. 5., Thessaloniki
Schmitt, Carl (2007) The Concept of the Political. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago
Press.

16. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!