Populists‘ Foreign Policy Rhetoric: More Confrontational, Less Consensual?

Book chapter

Sandra Destradi, Johannes Plagemann, Egecan Hüsemoglu, Vihang Jumle, Alyssa Santiago, Ronald Schleehauf
C. Lacatus, G. Meibauer, G. Löfflmann, Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_15

DOI

Cite

APA Click to copy
Destradi, S., Plagemann, J., Hüsemoglu, E., Jumle, V., Santiago, A., & Schleehauf, R. (2023). Populists‘ Foreign Policy Rhetoric: More Confrontational, Less Consensual? In C. Lacatus, G. Meibauer, & G. Löfflmann (Eds.), Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_15

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Destradi, Sandra, Johannes Plagemann, Egecan Hüsemoglu, Vihang Jumle, Alyssa Santiago, and Ronald Schleehauf. “Populists‘ Foreign Policy Rhetoric: More Confrontational, Less Consensual?” In Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication, edited by C. Lacatus, G. Meibauer, and G. Löfflmann. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.

MLA Click to copy
Destradi, Sandra, et al. “Populists‘ Foreign Policy Rhetoric: More Confrontational, Less Consensual?” Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication, edited by C. Lacatus et al., Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_15.

BibTeX Click to copy

@inbook{destradi2023a,
  title = {Populists‘ Foreign Policy Rhetoric: More Confrontational, Less Consensual?},
  year = {2023},
  publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_15},
  author = {Destradi, Sandra and Plagemann, Johannes and Hüsemoglu, Egecan and Jumle, Vihang and Santiago, Alyssa and Schleehauf, Ronald},
  editor = {Lacatus, C. and Meibauer, G. and Löfflmann, G.},
  booktitle = {Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication}
}

Abstract

This contribution explores the rhetoric of populist governments in their diplomatic interactions. We ask if and to what extent populist governments adopt a more aggressive rhetoric with key international partners and adversaries. In theoretical terms, there are reasons to expect populist governments to adopt a more confrontational way of communication: populists claim to embody the popular will and might therefore be less amenable to compromise. Moreover, populism goes along with a Manichean, highly moralistic worldview. Such black-and-white understanding of politics might lead to a harsher approach vis-à-vis competitors and enemies. Our findings are based on a qualitative content analysis of official statements and speeches by representatives of non-populist vs. populist governments in four country cases (India, Italy, the Philippines, and Turkey). For each country case, we assessed whether the shift to a populist government led to a less cooperative rhetoric in their approach to three important international partners or adversaries. In several cases, the shift to a populist government led to the expected adoption of a more confrontational rhetoric. Some exceptions, however, suggest that the expected effect of populism will fade if domestic voter salience of foreign policy is low. Moreover, in some cases, populist governments became much friendlier in their interaction with another populist government.