Governing against the tide: Populism, power and the party conference

In this article we argue that a tendency to treat populism as a ubiquitous, mechanistic characteristic of contemporary penality has impeded systematic theoretical discussion of how populist ideologies find contingent expression within national penal systems. Drawing upon an agonistic perspective we...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Guiney, Thomas (Author) ; Farrall, Stephen 1969- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
In: Theoretical criminology
Year: 2023, Volume: 27, Issue: 1, Pages: 147-164
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:In this article we argue that a tendency to treat populism as a ubiquitous, mechanistic characteristic of contemporary penality has impeded systematic theoretical discussion of how populist ideologies find contingent expression within national penal systems. Drawing upon an agonistic perspective we seek to show that the intersection between populism and punishment must be understood as a structured process that is shaped by struggle between actors with different types, and amounts, of political power. We illustrate these claims with reference to a historical case study of the 1981 British Conservative Party Conference; a political calendar ritual that facilitated symbolic conflict and provided an institutional point of entry for populist movements seeking to disrupt the prevailing liberal consensus on crime and secure substantive policy concessions from government.
ISSN:1461-7439
DOI:10.1177/13624806221081504