Neopopulism strategically manufactures and amplifies uncertainty rather than offering alternatives

Evidence

Clearly, the neopopulism of Trump, Modi, or Bolsonaro has not intended to “defeat” global neoliberalism and replace it with an altogether different agenda. Theirs is a politics that strategically unveils systemic uncertainties where they already exist (or, even more expediently, where it can be shown that such uncertainties had been disguised by liberal forces all along) and inserts them where they didn’t previously exist. Climate-­change denial is a prominent example of this practice: anticlimate populism has systematically exaggerated real, existing scientific uncertainties in order to contest basic facts around global warming. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 442

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: climate-change denial as speculative politics — the manufacture of uncertainty as a governance tool, not just ignorance.
• XREF: connects to: Right-wing populism embraces optimistic chaos against expert prediction rather than seeking security — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 291; Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276; Markets and populist publics may share a common yearning for uncertainty — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 65 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Right-wing populism embraces optimistic chaos against expert prediction rather than seeking security #corroborates (0.85) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 291
• Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order #corroborates (0.82) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276
• Markets and populist publics may share a common yearning for uncertainty #responds-to (0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 65