Constructing the enemy: the evolution of Podemos’ populist discourse from anti-system movement to power (2014–2021)

Abstract

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Podemos has been the object of extensive attention since its foundation in 2014. However, most of the academic works focus on its initial rise, which prevents a broader analysis of the evolution of its populist discourse after they reached the Spanish government in 2020. Covering this gap, this paper argues that Podemos’ populism operates as a discursive logic aimed at constructing the political by spreading antagonisms. Following the post-Marxist theories of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Podemos’ leaders understand politics as a cultural exercise whose essential component is a permanent redefinition of the people and anti-people categories according to context. Based on this framework, the paper develops a qualitative analysis of Podemos’ discourse in the period 2014–2021. By focusing on the discursive manifestations of its main leaders, the paper shows the rhetorical turns that try to reconcile the contradictions between an initial street-level populism and a subsequent populism in power. Thus, the original people/caste antagonism is replaced by the classical left/right divide, which shows the difficult coexistence of two different approaches to populism within Podemos. Once in government, the reframing of the left/right dichotomy as democracy/fascism will lend continuity to a populist understanding of politics.