Abstract
Full Text
Populism’s Building Complex; or: Is there such a thing as Populist Architecture?
Jan-Werner Müller is Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences and professor of politics at Princeton University. Recent publications include Democracy Rules (2021) and Furcht und Freiheit (2019).
This article argues that there is a distinctive populist approach to the built environment. Populists claim that they alone represent what they often call “the real people.” Hence, there is a need for them to specify who “the real people” are. If they have sufficient power (and time) while in government, they will reshape the built environment – architecture, no less than urban and rural environments more broadly — in line with their understanding of “the real people.” In particular, they will create spaces (some obviously political, some not so obvious, such as football stadiums) that can serve as sites for the collective affirmation of a particular understanding of peoplehood. The article also asks how post-populist governments should relate to a built environment reshaped by populists.
References
Akçali, E. and Korkut, U. (2015). Urban transformation in Istanbul and Budapest: Neoliberal governmentality in the EU’s semi-periphery and its limits. Political Geography, vol. 46, 76-88.
Aljazeera (2021). World’s largest cricket stadium renamed after Narendra Modi https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/24/worlds-biggest-cricket-stadium-renamed-after-indias-modi
Bartels, L. (2023). Democracy Erodes from the Top. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Batuman, B. (2018). New Islamist Architecture and Urbanism: Negotiating Nation and Islam through Built Environment in Turkey. New York: Routledge.
BBC (2021). Taksim Square: Erdogan inaugurates controversial mosque in Istanbul, 29 May, BBC.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57290677
Bechev, D. (2022). Turkey under Erdoğan. New Haven: Yale UP.
Benjamin, W. (1991). Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (Erste Fassung). In: R. Tiedemann and H. Schweppenhäuser (eds.) Abhandlungen [Gesammelte Schriften, vol I:2]. (431-69). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Blokker, J. (2022). Heritage and the ‘Heartland’: Architectural and urban heritage in the discourse and practice of the populist far right. Journal of European Studies, vol. 52, 219-37.
Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. (2012). Turkey Modern Architectures in History. London: Reaktion.
Çayli, E. (2021). The Architecture of Dispossession, Disaster, and Emergency in Urban Turkey. In: J. Jongerden (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Turkey, (360-72). New York: Routledge.
Dányi, E. (2013). Democracy in Ruins: The Case of the Hungarian Parliament. In D. Gafijczuk and D. Sayer (eds.), The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Reimagining History, Space, and Memory, (55-78). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
de Graaf, R. (2022). architect, verb.:The New Language of Building, New York: Verso.
Frausto, S. and Szacka, L.C. (2021). The Architecture of Populism: Media, Politics and Aesthetics. Footprint: Delft Architectural Theory Journal, v. 15, https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.15.2
Gerő, A. (2009). Public Space in Budapest: The History of Kossuth Square, trans. Thoms J and Helen D. DeKornfeld. Boulder: Social Science Monographs.
Goldblatt, D. (2019). The Age of Football: Soccer and the 21st Century. New York: Norton.
Guriev, S. and Treisman, D. (2022). Spin Dictators Princeton: Princeton UP.
Hajdu, M. (2019). Liget Budapest: Spectacle, Architecture, and Right-Wing Populism. The Avery Review.https://averyreview.com/media/pages/issues/39/liget-budapest/060ef2a1a7-1663135627/hajdu-liget-budapest.pdf
Holland, O. (2021). Even before Covid struck, Modi’s $1.8B New Delhi revamp divided opinions. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/modi-central-vista-architecture/index.html
Konakçı, M. (2023). Electoral Consolidation Through Islamic Populism and Religious Grievance: The Case of Transformation of Hagia Sophia in Turkey . Lectio Socialis , 7 (2) , 47-56 . DOI: 10.47478/lectio.1239602
Laswell, H. D. (1979). The Signature of Power: Buildings, Communication, and Policy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Lefaivre, L. and Tzonis, A. (2006). In the Name of the People: The Populist Movement in Architecture, in: M. Shamiyeh (ed.), What People Want: Populism in Architecture and Design. Basel: Birkhäuser.
MacDonalds, S. (2008). Difficult Heritage: Difficult HeritageNegotiating the Nazi Past in Nuremberg and Beyond. London: Routledge.
Mathieson, J. and Verlaan, T. (2019). The Far Right’s Obsession with Modern Architecture. Failed Architecturehttps://failedarchitecture.com/the-far-rights-obsession-with-modern-architecture/
Mudde, C. (2004). The Populist Zeitgeist, Government and Opposition, 39 (3), 541–63.
Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP.
Müller, J.-W. (2017) What is Populism? London: Penguin.
Müller, J.-W. (2023) Populist Architecture is a Problem that Wil Outlive Populists, Foreign Policy, 20 May
Orbán, B. (2021). The Hungarian Way of Strategy. Budapest: MCC Press.
Orbán, V. (2018). Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at the 29th Bálványos Summer Open University and Student Camp. https://2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/prime-minister-viktor-orbans-speech-at-the-29th-balvanyos-summer-open-university-and-student-camp/.
Ozouf, M. (1976). La fête revolutionnaire 1789-1799. Paris: Gallimard.
Palonen, E. (2019). Rhetorical-Performative Analysis of the Urban Symbolic Landscape: Populism in Action. In T.Marttila (ed.), Discourse, Culture and Organization (179-98). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Priester, K. (2012). Rechter und linker Populismus: Annäherung an ein Chamäleon. Frankfurt/Main: Campus.
Rachman, G. (2022). The Age of the Strongman. New York: Other Press.
Reichardt, R. (2002). Das Blut der Freiheit. Französische Revolution und demokratische Kultur. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.
Rousseau, J.J. (1997). Considerations on the Government of Poland. In: V. Gourevitch (ed.) The Social Contract and other later political writings, (177-260). Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Svetlana Boym, S. (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.
Svolik, M. (2019). Polarization versus Democracy, Journal of Democracy 30 (3), 20-32.
The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission (2021). The 1776 Report. January, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf.
The White House (2020). Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture. Federal Register, December 23. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/23/2020-28605/promoting-beautiful-federal-civic-architecture.
Trüby, S. (2019). Rechte Räume: Eine Einführung. Arch+: Zeitschrift für Architektur und Urbanismus, v. 52, 10-23.
Venturi, R., Brown, D. S. and Izenour, S. (1972). Learning from Las Vegas, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Young, J. E. (2016). The Memorial’s arc: Between Berlin’s Denkmal and New York City’s 9/11 Memorial. Memory Studies, vol. 9, 325-31.
Abstract
Full Text
Populism’s Building Complex; or: Is there such a thing as Populist Architecture?
Jan-Werner Müller is Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences and professor of politics at Princeton University. Recent publications include Democracy Rules (2021) and Furcht und Freiheit (2019).
This article argues that there is a distinctive populist approach to the built environment. Populists claim that they alone represent what they often call “the real people.” Hence, there is a need for them to specify who “the real people” are. If they have sufficient power (and time) while in government, they will reshape the built environment – architecture, no less than urban and rural environments more broadly — in line with their understanding of “the real people.” In particular, they will create spaces (some obviously political, some not so obvious, such as football stadiums) that can serve as sites for the collective affirmation of a particular understanding of peoplehood. The article also asks how post-populist governments should relate to a built environment reshaped by populists.
References
Akçali, E. and Korkut, U. (2015). Urban transformation in Istanbul and Budapest: Neoliberal governmentality in the EU’s semi-periphery and its limits. Political Geography, vol. 46, 76-88.
Aljazeera (2021). World’s largest cricket stadium renamed after Narendra Modi https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/24/worlds-biggest-cricket-stadium-renamed-after-indias-modi
Bartels, L. (2023). Democracy Erodes from the Top. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Batuman, B. (2018). New Islamist Architecture and Urbanism: Negotiating Nation and Islam through Built Environment in Turkey. New York: Routledge.
BBC (2021). Taksim Square: Erdogan inaugurates controversial mosque in Istanbul, 29 May, BBC.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57290677
Bechev, D. (2022). Turkey under Erdoğan. New Haven: Yale UP.
Benjamin, W. (1991). Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (Erste Fassung). In: R. Tiedemann and H. Schweppenhäuser (eds.) Abhandlungen [Gesammelte Schriften, vol I:2]. (431-69). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Blokker, J. (2022). Heritage and the ‘Heartland’: Architectural and urban heritage in the discourse and practice of the populist far right. Journal of European Studies, vol. 52, 219-37.
Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. (2012). Turkey Modern Architectures in History. London: Reaktion.
Çayli, E. (2021). The Architecture of Dispossession, Disaster, and Emergency in Urban Turkey. In: J. Jongerden (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Turkey, (360-72). New York: Routledge.
Dányi, E. (2013). Democracy in Ruins: The Case of the Hungarian Parliament. In D. Gafijczuk and D. Sayer (eds.), The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Reimagining History, Space, and Memory, (55-78). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
de Graaf, R. (2022). architect, verb.:The New Language of Building, New York: Verso.
Frausto, S. and Szacka, L.C. (2021). The Architecture of Populism: Media, Politics and Aesthetics. Footprint: Delft Architectural Theory Journal, v. 15, https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.15.2
Gerő, A. (2009). Public Space in Budapest: The History of Kossuth Square, trans. Thoms J and Helen D. DeKornfeld. Boulder: Social Science Monographs.
Goldblatt, D. (2019). The Age of Football: Soccer and the 21st Century. New York: Norton.
Guriev, S. and Treisman, D. (2022). Spin Dictators Princeton: Princeton UP.
Hajdu, M. (2019). Liget Budapest: Spectacle, Architecture, and Right-Wing Populism. The Avery Review.https://averyreview.com/media/pages/issues/39/liget-budapest/060ef2a1a7-1663135627/hajdu-liget-budapest.pdf
Holland, O. (2021). Even before Covid struck, Modi’s $1.8B New Delhi revamp divided opinions. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/modi-central-vista-architecture/index.html
Konakçı, M. (2023). Electoral Consolidation Through Islamic Populism and Religious Grievance: The Case of Transformation of Hagia Sophia in Turkey . Lectio Socialis , 7 (2) , 47-56 . DOI: 10.47478/lectio.1239602
Laswell, H. D. (1979). The Signature of Power: Buildings, Communication, and Policy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Lefaivre, L. and Tzonis, A. (2006). In the Name of the People: The Populist Movement in Architecture, in: M. Shamiyeh (ed.), What People Want: Populism in Architecture and Design. Basel: Birkhäuser.
MacDonalds, S. (2008). Difficult Heritage: Difficult HeritageNegotiating the Nazi Past in Nuremberg and Beyond. London: Routledge.
Mathieson, J. and Verlaan, T. (2019). The Far Right’s Obsession with Modern Architecture. Failed Architecturehttps://failedarchitecture.com/the-far-rights-obsession-with-modern-architecture/
Mudde, C. (2004). The Populist Zeitgeist, Government and Opposition, 39 (3), 541–63.
Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP.
Müller, J.-W. (2017) What is Populism? London: Penguin.
Müller, J.-W. (2023) Populist Architecture is a Problem that Wil Outlive Populists, Foreign Policy, 20 May
Orbán, B. (2021). The Hungarian Way of Strategy. Budapest: MCC Press.
Orbán, V. (2018). Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at the 29th Bálványos Summer Open University and Student Camp. https://2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/prime-minister-viktor-orbans-speech-at-the-29th-balvanyos-summer-open-university-and-student-camp/.
Ozouf, M. (1976). La fête revolutionnaire 1789-1799. Paris: Gallimard.
Palonen, E. (2019). Rhetorical-Performative Analysis of the Urban Symbolic Landscape: Populism in Action. In T.Marttila (ed.), Discourse, Culture and Organization (179-98). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Priester, K. (2012). Rechter und linker Populismus: Annäherung an ein Chamäleon. Frankfurt/Main: Campus.
Rachman, G. (2022). The Age of the Strongman. New York: Other Press.
Reichardt, R. (2002). Das Blut der Freiheit. Französische Revolution und demokratische Kultur. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.
Rousseau, J.J. (1997). Considerations on the Government of Poland. In: V. Gourevitch (ed.) The Social Contract and other later political writings, (177-260). Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Svetlana Boym, S. (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.
Svolik, M. (2019). Polarization versus Democracy, Journal of Democracy 30 (3), 20-32.
The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission (2021). The 1776 Report. January, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf.
The White House (2020). Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture. Federal Register, December 23. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/23/2020-28605/promoting-beautiful-federal-civic-architecture.
Trüby, S. (2019). Rechte Räume: Eine Einführung. Arch+: Zeitschrift für Architektur und Urbanismus, v. 52, 10-23.
Venturi, R., Brown, D. S. and Izenour, S. (1972). Learning from Las Vegas, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Young, J. E. (2016). The Memorial’s arc: Between Berlin’s Denkmal and New York City’s 9/11 Memorial. Memory Studies, vol. 9, 325-31.
Abstract
Full Text
Populism’s Building Complex; or: Is there such a thing as Populist Architecture?
Jan-Werner Müller is Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences and professor of politics at Princeton University. Recent publications include Democracy Rules (2021) and Furcht und Freiheit (2019).
This article argues that there is a distinctive populist approach to the built environment. Populists claim that they alone represent what they often call “the real people.” Hence, there is a need for them to specify who “the real people” are. If they have sufficient power (and time) while in government, they will reshape the built environment – architecture, no less than urban and rural environments more broadly — in line with their understanding of “the real people.” In particular, they will create spaces (some obviously political, some not so obvious, such as football stadiums) that can serve as sites for the collective affirmation of a particular understanding of peoplehood. The article also asks how post-populist governments should relate to a built environment reshaped by populists.
References
Akçali, E. and Korkut, U. (2015). Urban transformation in Istanbul and Budapest: Neoliberal governmentality in the EU’s semi-periphery and its limits. Political Geography, vol. 46, 76-88.
Aljazeera (2021). World’s largest cricket stadium renamed after Narendra Modi https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/24/worlds-biggest-cricket-stadium-renamed-after-indias-modi
Bartels, L. (2023). Democracy Erodes from the Top. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Batuman, B. (2018). New Islamist Architecture and Urbanism: Negotiating Nation and Islam through Built Environment in Turkey. New York: Routledge.
BBC (2021). Taksim Square: Erdogan inaugurates controversial mosque in Istanbul, 29 May, BBC.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57290677
Bechev, D. (2022). Turkey under Erdoğan. New Haven: Yale UP.
Benjamin, W. (1991). Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (Erste Fassung). In: R. Tiedemann and H. Schweppenhäuser (eds.) Abhandlungen [Gesammelte Schriften, vol I:2]. (431-69). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Blokker, J. (2022). Heritage and the ‘Heartland’: Architectural and urban heritage in the discourse and practice of the populist far right. Journal of European Studies, vol. 52, 219-37.
Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. (2012). Turkey Modern Architectures in History. London: Reaktion.
Çayli, E. (2021). The Architecture of Dispossession, Disaster, and Emergency in Urban Turkey. In: J. Jongerden (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Turkey, (360-72). New York: Routledge.
Dányi, E. (2013). Democracy in Ruins: The Case of the Hungarian Parliament. In D. Gafijczuk and D. Sayer (eds.), The Inhabited Ruins of Central Europe: Reimagining History, Space, and Memory, (55-78). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
de Graaf, R. (2022). architect, verb.:The New Language of Building, New York: Verso.
Frausto, S. and Szacka, L.C. (2021). The Architecture of Populism: Media, Politics and Aesthetics. Footprint: Delft Architectural Theory Journal, v. 15, https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.15.2
Gerő, A. (2009). Public Space in Budapest: The History of Kossuth Square, trans. Thoms J and Helen D. DeKornfeld. Boulder: Social Science Monographs.
Goldblatt, D. (2019). The Age of Football: Soccer and the 21st Century. New York: Norton.
Guriev, S. and Treisman, D. (2022). Spin Dictators Princeton: Princeton UP.
Hajdu, M. (2019). Liget Budapest: Spectacle, Architecture, and Right-Wing Populism. The Avery Review.https://averyreview.com/media/pages/issues/39/liget-budapest/060ef2a1a7-1663135627/hajdu-liget-budapest.pdf
Holland, O. (2021). Even before Covid struck, Modi’s $1.8B New Delhi revamp divided opinions. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/modi-central-vista-architecture/index.html
Konakçı, M. (2023). Electoral Consolidation Through Islamic Populism and Religious Grievance: The Case of Transformation of Hagia Sophia in Turkey . Lectio Socialis , 7 (2) , 47-56 . DOI: 10.47478/lectio.1239602
Laswell, H. D. (1979). The Signature of Power: Buildings, Communication, and Policy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Lefaivre, L. and Tzonis, A. (2006). In the Name of the People: The Populist Movement in Architecture, in: M. Shamiyeh (ed.), What People Want: Populism in Architecture and Design. Basel: Birkhäuser.
MacDonalds, S. (2008). Difficult Heritage: Difficult HeritageNegotiating the Nazi Past in Nuremberg and Beyond. London: Routledge.
Mathieson, J. and Verlaan, T. (2019). The Far Right’s Obsession with Modern Architecture. Failed Architecturehttps://failedarchitecture.com/the-far-rights-obsession-with-modern-architecture/
Mudde, C. (2004). The Populist Zeitgeist, Government and Opposition, 39 (3), 541–63.
Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism. A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP.
Müller, J.-W. (2017) What is Populism? London: Penguin.
Müller, J.-W. (2023) Populist Architecture is a Problem that Wil Outlive Populists, Foreign Policy, 20 May
Orbán, B. (2021). The Hungarian Way of Strategy. Budapest: MCC Press.
Orbán, V. (2018). Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at the 29th Bálványos Summer Open University and Student Camp. https://2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/prime-minister-viktor-orbans-speech-at-the-29th-balvanyos-summer-open-university-and-student-camp/.
Ozouf, M. (1976). La fête revolutionnaire 1789-1799. Paris: Gallimard.
Palonen, E. (2019). Rhetorical-Performative Analysis of the Urban Symbolic Landscape: Populism in Action. In T.Marttila (ed.), Discourse, Culture and Organization (179-98). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Priester, K. (2012). Rechter und linker Populismus: Annäherung an ein Chamäleon. Frankfurt/Main: Campus.
Rachman, G. (2022). The Age of the Strongman. New York: Other Press.
Reichardt, R. (2002). Das Blut der Freiheit. Französische Revolution und demokratische Kultur. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.
Rousseau, J.J. (1997). Considerations on the Government of Poland. In: V. Gourevitch (ed.) The Social Contract and other later political writings, (177-260). Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Svetlana Boym, S. (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.
Svolik, M. (2019). Polarization versus Democracy, Journal of Democracy 30 (3), 20-32.
The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission (2021). The 1776 Report. January, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf.
The White House (2020). Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture. Federal Register, December 23. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/23/2020-28605/promoting-beautiful-federal-civic-architecture.
Trüby, S. (2019). Rechte Räume: Eine Einführung. Arch+: Zeitschrift für Architektur und Urbanismus, v. 52, 10-23.
Venturi, R., Brown, D. S. and Izenour, S. (1972). Learning from Las Vegas, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Young, J. E. (2016). The Memorial’s arc: Between Berlin’s Denkmal and New York City’s 9/11 Memorial. Memory Studies, vol. 9, 325-31.