Civilizing left populism: Towards a theory of plebeian democracy

In recent years the issue of economic inequality has emerged as a central political problem (Piketty, 2014; Winters & Page, 2009). The growing impact of the ultra-rich on politics through campaign donations and media influence has been a trend since the 1970s. But since 2008 the problem has increasingly been addressed at the grassroots level, as new movements have (re)framed the issue of inequality as a problem of oligarchy, understood as the unfettered power of an ultra-rich minority to undermine democratic decision-making (Winters, 2011). The early 2010s saw a wave of street-based protests against bailing out the banks while enforcing austerity on the rest, and-importantly- in favor of a radical expansion of democracy. The Indignados movement in Spain and the Occupy movement spreading from New York across the world in 2011 are prime examples. These mobilizations were followed by a wave of unexpectedly successful left-wing electoral campaigns, such as Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain, Bernie Sanders in the USA, Melenchon in France, and Corbyn in the UK.