Author Meets Critics: "The Authoritarian Divide: Populism, Propaganda, and Polarization" by Orçun Selçuk

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

This Author Meets Critics panel brings together six scholars to discuss Orçun Selçuk’s book “The Authoritarian Divide: Populism, Propaganda, and Polarization” (University of Notre Dame Press, Summer 2024).

Scholars of comparative politics often label countries such as the United States, Hungary, Turkey, India, Israel, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador as “polarized.” When we take a closer look into the type of polarization in these countries, we do not usually see polarization along a left–right ideological continuum. Unlike during the Cold War era when polarization was mainly ideological, the type of polarization in these countries is primarily between the hardcore supporters and staunch opponents of Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Narendra Modi, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa. The Authoritarian Divide conceptualizes this global phenomenon as “affective leader polarization,” a situation or a process in which the political actors polarize over their levels of affection toward dominant presidents or prime ministers.

To explain why affective leader polarization occurs in a diverse group of cases, The Authoritarian Divide proposes to study the mechanisms of populist inclusion and exclusion. Different from the scholars of populism who assign the inclusionary or the exclusionary label to certain groups of cases (Filc 2010; Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser 2013), the book unpacks how populist leaders, regardless of their regional context and ideological label, simultaneously include the members of their in-group and exclude their out-group. It argues that the binary logic of populism always leads to varying degrees of affective leader polarization. Beyond the study of populism in power, the book also underlines the agency of opposition actors, who can reinforce or mitigate affective leader polarization with their discourses, strategies, and actions.

Drawing on public opinion data (LAPOP, Latinobarómeto, CSES, KONDA) and content analysis of propaganda media (Muhtar Meetings, Aló Presidente, and Enlace Ciudadano) Orçun Selçuk investigates the tactics used by three populists to fuel affective leader polarization: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador. Selçuk’s work provides a rubric for a better understanding of—and potential defense against—the rise in polarizing populism across the globe.

In addition to Orçun Selçuk (Luther College), the Author Meets Critics panel includes six comparative politics scholars, who are experts on populism, polarization, and opposition politics, in the Latin American and Turkish contexts. Aníbal Pérez Liñan (University of Notre Dame) will chair the session and evaluate the theoretical argument of the book in the context of the global decline of democracy. Kurt Weyland (University of Texas-Austin) and Jennifer McCoy (Georgia State University) will analyze the book’s contributions to the study of populism and polarization respectively. Şebnem Gümüşçü (Middlebury College) will discuss the implications of the book for the study of Turkey's regime trajectory under Erdoğan. Laura Gamboa (University of Utah) will assess the role of the anti-leader oppositions in mitigating and reinforcing polarization in Venezuela and Ecuador. Lisel Hintz (Johns Hopkins University) will draw cross-regional connections between Latin America and the Middle East, with a focus on identity politics.

Sub Unit

• Division 44: Democracy and Autocracy

Chair

• Anibal Perez-Linan University of Notre Dame

Presenters

• Orçun Selçuk Luther College

• Kurt Weyland University of Texas at Austin

• Jennifer McCoy Georgia State University

• Sebnem Gumuscu Middlebury College

• Laura Gamboa University of Notre Dame

• Lisel S. Hintz Johns Hopkins University SAIS