What we talk about when we talk about ‘the elite’ in populism studies: re-examining an often-neglected term in the cases of Die Linke and AfD

Abstract

Populism studies have almost exclusively focused on understanding the phenomenon of populism based on how ‘the people’ are constructed as a political subject. Indeed, most of the relevant literature revolves around the different connotations that ‘the people’ have and under which conditions ‘the people’ become a populist subject in a political actor’s discourse and practices. At the same time, populism’s other constitutive term, that of ‘the elite’, has received surprisingly minimal attention. While there have been studies that focus on the anti-elitism aspect of populist actors, only a few have provided an in-depth examination of how ‘the elite’ is constructed. This paper aims to offer a theoretical and empirical understanding of what populist parties mean when they talk about ‘the elite’ and how the different connotations of the term can clarify the degree of populism in political parties. Employing a discourse analytical perspective, the paper will examine the meaning of ‘the elite’ using the example of the German parties, Alternative for Germany and The Left Party from 2009–2019. The goal of the paper is to promote the analytical use of ‘the elite’ in an equal manner to that of ‘the people’ and highlight its use in populism studies.