Populism and the commons in the Anthropocene: Exploring a fitting political strategy for our epoch

2025/04/15 by Ioannis Rigkos‐Zitthen · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Music History and Culture #Populism, Right-Wing Movements

paper · doi:10.1177/19427786251330948

openalex publication_date 2025/04/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

This paper suggests that progressive/inclusive populism and practices of collective care pertain to commoning, are two complementary political tools that could provide a frame for politics suitable to address main issues of our new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, including climate crisis, pandemics, and mass migration. This suggestion comes as a response to politics of techno-managerial steering responsible for our collective inability to approach the challenges of our epoch. By presenting a case study where care meets with populism, I argue that the relation between commons and populism might infuse politics with values, such as empathy and solidarity, necessary for addressing issues in the Anthropocene.

Citations

• Exclusionary vs. Inclusionary Populism: Comparing Contemporary Europe and Latin America
• The Capitalocene, Part I: on the nature and origins of our ecological crisis
• Populism, Anti-Populism and Democracy
• Adverse commoning: Tracing contested legal geographies of the urban commons
• ‘The Economy is Rigged’: Inequality Narratives, Fairness, and Support for Redistribution in Six Countries

Cited by

• On commons, state institutions and capitalism

Discussions

• New article out now discussing the relationship of commons and commoning to progressive populism. Link to the article here: doi.org/10.1177/1942... [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]