Description
Populism has long been framed as a threat to liberal order and stability, but few have investigated how populism relates to war. Since Putin’s Russia arguably displays populist traits, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine makes this a burning question. Pre-2022, Russia was frequently seen as spearheading the global revolt against liberalism, which united many populist movements. A longstanding pillar of Putin’s discourse is that he knows and acts upon ‘the real’. Performing authenticity is considered a hallmark of populism by scholars. This performance extends to Russia’s warfare: the invasions in 2014 and 2022 were both justified with claims that the voice of ‘the people’ had previously been ignored. Putin also invoked history as the source of ‘real’ statehood. In the US, Trump showcased how the populist authenticity claim extends to calling out opponents' fakeness. Such claims find a fully authoritarian parallel in Russia in 2022, which jails anyone spreading ‘fakes’ about ‘the special military operation’. Is a violent friend/enemy Schmittianism the ultimate authenticity claim? Employing discourse analysis to interrogate concepts of populism, authenticity and war, this paper conceptualises populist war and asks: is Putin’s war in Ukraine populist?
