‘Making Our Country Great Again’: The Politics of Subjectivity in an Age of National-Populism

Mandelbaum, Moran

Abstract

How could we understand the emotive power of national-populist discourses, indeed the calls to ‘make our country great again’? This paper directly tackles the recent Brexit discourse, within the broader context of rising national-populist sentiments. I offer a novel way of reading national-populism and the politics of subjectivity as I put forth a Lacanian-psychoanalytical framework, namely the void at the heart of national-populism narratives and thus their ability to produce and hail national-populist subjectivities, particularly through ‘fantasy’, ‘jouissance’ and the promise to recapture loss. I suggest that national-populism discourses appeal emotively and thus interpellate, at least partially, their subjects by offering unity and a ‘fullness to come’, the promise of filling the void, the promise of full jouissance. Since such national closure and unity are unattainable national-populism discourses must appeal to lost golden eras of greatness and by rendering the Other the cause of their failure.

Citation

Mandelbaum, M. (2020). ‘Making Our Country Great Again’: The Politics of Subjectivity in an Age of National-Populism. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 451-476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-020-09717-6

• Acceptance Date: Jun 5, 2020
• Publication Date: Jun 5, 2020
• Journal: International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique
• Print ISSN: 0952-8059
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Pages: 451-476
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-020-09717-6
• Keywords: Nationalism; Populism; Brexit; Desire; Fantasy; The Other
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-020-09717-6