RT Article T1 Governing against the tide: Populism, power and the party conference JF Theoretical criminology VO 27 IS 1 SP 147 OP 164 A1 Guiney, Thomas A2 Farrall, Stephen 1969- LA English YR 2023 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1833353951 AB 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. K1 Populism K1 Penal Policy K1 party conferences K1 Law and Order K1 agonistic perspective DO 10.1177/13624806221081504