Description
The world seems poised to enter a new era of authoritarian populism with authoritarian figures and demagogues leading the countries which contain well over half of the worldwide population. This is coupled by a concomitant rise in the accentuation, and sometimes the creation of social borders based upon various criteria – ethnicity, religion, ideology, nationality, class consciousness, political affiliation, etc. – a process involving the ‘imagination’ and ‘demonisation’ of enemies, both at the territorial as well as the extra-territorial levels. Additionally, this process of inclusion and exclusion is increasingly being faced by the disadvantaged groups of the society. This paper examines such rise in the accentuation of borders within social spaces against the backdrop of contemporary authoritarian populism. By making use of qualitative content analysis, it argues that the creation and accentuation of social borders by ‘imagining’ and ‘demonising’ enemies is something which is proactively encouraged by contemporary authoritarian leaders in order to concentrate their political power. Lastly, by taking recourse to a historical analysis of similar events from the past, the paper ponders upon the potentially devastating outcomes if such processes of social bordering are allowed to flourish even further.
