Wednesday, 25 June 2025 | 16:00 EDT | Room A201, Glendon Campus, York University | 2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto
Dr. Benjamin Moffitt will present The Five Spatial Political Logics of Populism: An Analytical Framework and Research Agenda for Studying the Populist Politicization of Space from the Local to the Transnational.
How does populism interact with space? Although there is growing awareness that populism is not just a national phenomenon and that it can be articulated on geographical scales ranging from the local to the transnational, there has been little attempt to provide a systematic framework for understanding how populism works across these scales, and specifically how space is politicized across them. This article addresses this gap by utilizing a discourse-theoretical understanding of populism and the politicization of space. It systematizes the extant literature on populism on different geographical scales and introduces the notion of ‘spatial political logics’. The article identifies five main spatial political logics that structure the populist politicization of space: lower-scale/higher-scale, centre/periphery, North/South and East/West, in/out, and rooted/rootless. It also develops an analytical framework for future research on the intricate relations between populism and space across geographical scales, setting out key questions that can guide case studies, comparative research, and broader theoretical reflections.
Dr. Benjamin Moffitt is Senior Lecturer in Politics & International Relations at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia
A reception will follow the talk at 17:00 EDT.
This event is presented by: The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies; Glendon Office of the Principal; The Glendon School of Public and International Affairs
For more information: research[at]glendon.yorku.ca