Il tecnopopulismo come strumento di stigmatizzazione del conflitto politico nelle democrazie rappresentative

Abstract

With the crisis of traditional parties in main European democracies, political conflict
is undergoing a phase of anesthesia. Socio-economic inequalities no longer fuel
the ideological dimension of political competition. After the 2008 crisis, anti-establishment
movements sparked political conflict with the rise of populism. But now,
parties are focused on self-preservation and there’s a trend of depoliticization, leading
to a new logic in politics: technopopulism. On one hand, appeals to competence and
experience are used to overcome the depoliticization of political problems, and on
the other hand, rejection of ideological divisions and the appeal to the “people” have
combined populist and technocratic rhetorics. Examples of this are the Macron and
Draghi governments in France and Italy, combining technocratic policies with populist
narratives, aiming to weaken political conflict in the name of popular interest. The future
of European integration may see a normalization of the ideological illusion hidden
by technopopulisms. This overview also considers the importance of the centralization
of power in the office of the head of government in representative democracies.