Post-2008 left populism failed from being either too left-wing or too populist

Evidence

Left-wing populism therefore found itself in a trap. It proved too left-wing to take full advantage of the collapse of the traditional party system; on the other hand, it was also too populist (“trapped in its hypothesis”) to answer the organizational question. Other forces provide an instructive contrast here. Parties such as the Italian Five Star Movement—far from conservative but hardly socialist either—were always eager to transcend the left–right divide and adopt a “catch-all” approach. Yet while Cinque Stelle tried its hand at catching everything, it now caught nothing at all. Podemos, on the other hand, was repeatedly overtaken by its far-left background, and stigmatized by opponents as “communist.” The degree of this stigma varied, however, and none of the left-populist bids after 2008 ever assumed a uniform shape. Conditioned by the electoral system and the nature of post-2008 crisis management, left populists arose either inside or outside of parties, took over existing parties or started new ones, and displayed highly divergent relations to the protest movements that preceded and accompanied them. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 31

Categorization

• QUESTION: What exactly does ‘trapped in its hypothesis’ mean as an organizational failure — worth chasing the author’s fuller definition later.
• XREF: connects to: Left-populist parties across the West had all lost power by the early 2020s — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 12; Populist-left politics emerged amid party decline and labor movement collapse — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 15; Left populism arose as an attempted replacement for, not an abolition of, social democracy. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 23 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Left populism helped destroy post-politics yet failed to restore mass politics #expands (0.85) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 345
• The 2008 crisis paradoxically strengthened right-wing and austerity politics worldwide #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 9
• Left parties struggled to comprehend the swift neoliberal resurgence after 2008 #corroborates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 9
• The 2008 crisis disoriented the left instead of vindicating its economic worldview #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 46
• Left-populist movements split into distinct strategic types facing different challenges #qualifies (0.75) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 164
• Left-populist parties across countries followed an identically scripted rise and fall #qualifies (0.72) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 161