The normalization of left populism? The paradigmatic case of Podemos

ABSTRACT

After a hopeful electoral debut, left populism in Europe has undergone relative normalization. While the literature on new parties might regard the persistence of left populist forces as a success, we deem instead that such an outcome should be considered against the backdrop of the initial left populist hypothesis. Based on a discussion of the existing literature and ten semi-structured interviews with party members, this paper analyses the case of Podemos in Spain as a proxy to assess the fortunes of left populism in Europe at large. We describe its political trajectory and explain its failure to go mainstream by reference to the interplay between, at a macro level, the structure of political opportunities and, at a meso level, its interpretation of the populist strategy. In particular, we focus on the paradoxical effects of the representative void, on the specific and unfavorable mutations of the populist moment in Spain for Podemos, and its own organizational and strategic shortcomings.

KEYWORDS:

• Populism
• Podemos
• Radical left
• Spanish politics
• Political parties

Notes

1 Interview with Antonio Estañ, Valencia, 7 November 2019.

2 Interview with Pedro Honrubia, Madrid, 4 December 2019.

3 As Dina had it, ‘In such a polarized context, we positioned ourselves as the referee. Yet, team A or team B may well win a game, but the referee is the one who never wins’ (Interview with Dina Bousselham, Coslada, 17 October 2019).

4 Interview with Ferran Martínez Ruiz, Valencia, 2 November 2019.

5 As an interviewee had it, ‘Podemos moved, in four years, from trying to change the pie and eat most of it, to fight for a small piece of the unchanged pie’ (interview with José García Molina, Talavera de la Reina, 26 October 2019).

6 ‘Because we were thinking from a Latin American perspective, we did not take sufficiently into account the institutional density and the capacity of Spanish institutions to resist the crisis’ (interview with Germán Cano, Madrid, 3 December 2019).

7 Interview with Jorge Lago, Madrid, 18 November 2019.

8 ‘I think that in Spain, this strategy of building a broad party, transversal, in Latin American populist terms, was almost impossible, but we ended up with the hierarchical structure of populism. It is perhaps the worst of both worlds’ (interview with Jacinto Morano, Madrid, 27 November 2019).

9 As explained by several interviewees, many members who initially agreed on the vertical design of the party as a short-term tool to win the elections, later asked for more internal democracy and turned against the current leadership, which was at risk of losing control over many territories (interview with Clara Serra, Madrid, 24 January 2020).

10 This was imputed by some to the majoritarian internal mode of decision-making, according to which the winning faction could win everything, leaving practically no room to internal minorities (interview with Jacinto Morano, Madrid, 27 November 2019).

11 ‘We do not have training for executives. […] You already have two or three charges, you take on the direction of your local section, and you have a public position because there are not enough candidates. This does not give you time to train the members. I think Podemos should settle, but when could it?’ (interview with Valentina Torres Zorrilla, Bilbao, 1 December 2019).