Dear Colleagues,

Populism is currently a part of mainstream politics several nations the world over. In different places, populism takes the form of political parties, political leaders, and social movements. At best a thin-centered ideology, and possibly a political style or type of discourse, populism cannot succeed as a form of political ideation on its own. Rather, it must always be adhered to a ‘thick’ ideological programme. Populism thus emerges in various left-wing and right-wing forms, and as more eclectic or centrist programmes. In each case, populist leaders argue that government elites are ignoring the interests of the people, or the majority population, claim themselves to be uniquely able to represent the popular will. However, the ‘thick’ ideology is required to provide the framework for defining the characteristics of ‘the people’ and ‘elites’, and for explaining why governing elites have failed the nation, or driven it to the point of crisis.

Recent scholarship has shown how civilizational notions of identity play a key role in supplying the framework—in part or whole—populists require to create a political environment in which they can achieve political and, in particular, electoral success. The use of civilizational rhetoric by populists has been noted by Roger Brubaker, who argues that a number of right-wing populist parties in Europe construe opposition between self and other not in narrowly national but in broader civilizational terms. While the idea, concept, social construction or phenomenon of civilization cannot be reduced to religion, in most cases, civilizations and religions are either linked very deeply or are framed as such. As a matter of fact, Brubaker’s argument has been strengthened by scholarship which demonstrates the increasing use of rhetoric among populist leaders in Europe defining national belonging in civilizational terms, and at times claiming that the Christian West and Islam are locked in a clash of civilizations. What is striking about European populist parties is that few could be described as ‘religious’ in any normal sense of the word, as embodiments of the ‘belonging without believing’ phenomenon, yet they have no trouble in identifying Europeans as belonging to Christian or Judeo-Christian civilization, and Muslims as belonging a wholly different and incompatible Islamic civilization, and justifying their anti-Muslim exclusionary politics on this basis.

There is little scholarship examining notions of civilizational identity among populist parties and their supporters beyond Europe, and the role they play in defining the rhetorical and ideological contours of populist politics. Yet, it is possible to identify a civilizational element in the rhetoric of Donald Trump, particularly during his campaign for President of the United States in 2016, in which he called America part of Judeo-Christian civilization, and claimed “Islam hates us”. Beyond the West, in Turkey, the ruling AKP combines populism with Islamism and a neo-Ottoman foreign agenda, in which the government positions Turkey as the leading nation of Islamic civilization, defines ingroups and outgroups via religious identity, and at times claims there is a clash of civilizations between Islam and the Christian West. It is possible to find civilizational rhetoric in populists in India, where a key premise of the Hindu nationalist philosophy of the ruling BJP is the revival of Hindu civilization and culture, and where the government increasingly claims Muslims are unwelcome foreigners. It is therefore possible, even likely, that civilizational identity plays an important role in identity construction among populists in many nations. Equally, there is clearly a relationship between religion and civilizational populism, but the exact nature of this relationship is unclear, and may differ across societies. The relationship between nationalism and civilizational identity in populist discourse and ideology also appears complex, and is likely to differ widely between populist groups and leaders, and across different societies.

This Special Issue therefore invites contributors to consider questions/topics which are not limited to, but inclusive of, the following:

• The relationship between religion, civilization, and populism;
• Populist identity construction and civilization, particularly in non-Western cases;
• The relationship between national and civilizational identity in populist rhetoric;
• Performative populism (gestures, emotional tone, imagery, visual politics and symbolism) and civilization;
• Perspectives of the targets of civilizational populism: particularly religious minorities;
• Responses to the growth of civilizational identity in populist movements and parties;
• Ethnic nationalism and its relationship with civilizational narratives among populists;
• The ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis and its use in populist discourse;
• Use of digital technologies by civilizational populists.

Prof. Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz
Guest Editor

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Title: The Religious Rhetoric and Anti-Western Populism: The Socio-Political Ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei
Abstract: Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (1939- ) is the second and current supreme leader of Islamic Republic of Iran, in office since 1989. His decisive role in directing the cultural policies inside as well as determining the foreign policy of Iran, makes it necessary to examine his thoughts. According to the constitutional authority of the Supreme Leader, Khamenei's increasing desire in more than three decades of his leadership to institutionalize his anti-Western thoughts in a country with more than 90% Shiʻa population has required a populist strategy. On the one hand, he believes in Islamic awakening, and therefore his anti-imperialist attitude has anti-Semitic (anti-Zionist in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s political discourse) and anti-Western characteristics. On the other hand, he thinks of Iranian nation as the Umm al-Qura in a predominantly Sunni Middle East, and emphasizes doubling the population of Iran, because he believes that creating a new Islamic civilization is the ultimate goal of the Iranian Revolution. Moreover, the Nuclear Program of Iran was followed by extensive economic sanctions from Western countries. Khamenei, who stubbornly insists on a no-relation policy with the United States, addresses the Iranian nation in the statement of “the Second Phase of the Revolution” in 2019, to persuade them to stand against the Western attacks by adopting Resistance Economy. To advance these economic austerities, Khamenei relies on the traditional part of Iranian society, among whom conservative ethics can still have a fundamental value. In this regard, he considers social networks to be the promoters of Western vulgar culture and calls for their extensive restrictions and censorship. For this reason, in his last statement (February 2022) about Iran's cyberspace and opposition media, he called for a combined attack on them since they have targeted Islamic culture – called cultural invasion in Khamenei’s terminology. Thus, to justify his statements, Ayatollah Khamenei employs religious rhetoric as most of his keen followers are still from the conservative class of Iranian society.

Title: Front Pembela Islam (FPI)’s Civilizational Populism in Indonesia
Abstract: This article seeks to examine the civilizational elements over the discourse of religious populism of the Front Pembela Islam (FPI) in Indonesia. It also attempts to trace its history and influence on the development of politics and society in Indonesia. This article argues that FPI has instrumentalized religious discourse and resulted in the civilizational idea of the bifurcation of the world: the good ummah vis-à-vis the evil society). This instrumentalization has succeeded to gain popularity from Muslims. It has strengthened its political power and bargaining, although it leads to harden Muslims’ religious behaviour towards conservatism. Its civilizational populism has resulted in the allegation of blasphemy and therefore judiciary sentence of two years imprisonment for Ahok, its Christian-Chinese rival. From the security perspective of the state, FPI is the crucial threat that must be contained. It was banned in 2020. Although its banning has been claimed to be the most effective non-permanent solution for the state, giving some places for conservative-populist figures of MUI in the governmental positions will potentially invite other kinds of intolerance. At the same time, the Ahok affair and his political rehabilitation demonstrate Muslims’ imagination of a clash of civilizations between Islam, the West, and China. It, furthermore, suggests that there is an inclination for the discourse emerging multiple civilizational threats to the ummah in the country.

Title: Jewish civilizationalism and populism in Israel: New or old?
Abstract: Populism and civilizationalism have transformed the politics of many countries. Many scholars consider them the biggest challenges to democracy since the rise of fascism and communism in the first half of the last century. The close affinity between populism, civilizationalism, and right-wing politics has also been analyzed and recognized in many countries from Turkey to India to the US. However, there are three areas that distinguish the appearance of civilizationalism and populism in Israel. First, in contrast to many other countries, civilizationalism is not a new phenomenon. It has been an essential part of Israeli nationalism or Zionism since the early 20th century. Second, unlike many countries, Jewish civilizationalism in Israel is an article of faith for all major Israeli political parties. It is not a slogan raised only by the rightwing, conservative part of the political spectrum. Finally, one observes an affinity between civilizationalism and populism. Civilizational rhetoric is the mainstay of populist leaders, such as Trump, Erdogan, etc. In Israel, populism and civilizationalism have no special relationship as civilizationalism is mainstream politics. All politicians, populist and others, have to pay homage to Jewish civilizationalism, otherwise they will not succeed. This paper analyzes the Israeli founding fathers statements,, Declaration of Independence, Israeli state symbols, revival of Hebrew language, the Law of Return, the first debate in the Knesset, and more recent Nation-State law to demonstrate how Jewish civilizationalism is old, mainstream, and not exclusively populist.

Title: Hindu civilizationalism: Make India Great Again
Abstract: Hindu civilizationalism is more than a century old phenomenon that has been steadily gaining strength. Its recent amalgam with populism has made it ascendent, popular, and mainstream in India. This paper explores how Hindu civilizationalism is not only an essential part of the Hindutva and BJP's narrative but also of the mainstay of several government policies. The "other" of BJP's populist civilizationalist rhetoric are primarily Muslims and Muslim civilization in India and the aim is to make India "vishwaguru" (world leader) again after 1200 years of colonialism. The evidence of this heady mixture of civilizationalism and populism are numerous and ubiquitous. This paper analyzes topic such as Akhand Bharat, golden age, denigrating Mughals, Vedic pseudo science, Sanskrit promotion, Hindutva party manifestos, and Citizen Amendment Act to highlight the evidence.

Title: Buddhist civilizational populism: Legacies of anti-colonial mobilisation in contemporary Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka
Abstract: This article examines the historical emergence of Buddhist civilizationalism within the 19th century anti-colonial Buddhist Revivalist Movement during British colonial rule in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The Revivalist Movement’s anti-colonial nationalism was framed in civilizational populist terms. This anti-colonial discourse attributed the coloniser’s violent and unjust rule to its civilizational defects, in particular in relation to the coloniser’s religion, Christianity. In contrast, the religion of the majority of the people of Ceylon, Buddhism, was claimed to belong to a much superior Aryan Buddhist civilization. Importantly, this superiority was justified in this social order ostensibly having discovered socio-political values such as democracy much before European civilizations had. This article begins with a brief conceptualisation of the framework of ‘civilizational populism’. It then demonstrates how the main elements of Buddhist Revivalist discourse in colonial Ceylon and how its anti-colonial discourse were not restricted to the notions of race (ethnicity) and religion solely within the nation-state. Instead, this discourse located Ceylon within a broader Aryan Buddhist civilizational frame. This civilizational populist discourse, even while claiming to be distinct to the heritage of its colonisers, replicated many of the latter’s worldviews and knowledge structures. The legacies of this civilizational populism are then contextualised against contemporary Buddhist nationalist movements in Sri Lanka.

Title: The Islamist-Populist Discourse on Western Civilization in Turkey: “Technologically Advanced, Morally Weak”
Abstract: The Islamist political discourse in Turkey is also a narrative on a rivalvary of Islamic and Western civilizations. Accordingly, Islamist political actors interpret global politics as a resistance of Islamic civilization to Western civilization. This article will explain and demonstrate three interrelated subjects: (i) The intellectual origins of the Islamists’ political discourse on civilization particularly the Western civilization. The article, in this regard, shall study several names such as Necip Fazil Kısakürek and Necmetin Erbakan, who could be seen as the architects of the negative discourse on the Western civilization in Turkey. (ii) The article will then explain how the Islamist actors frame their political discourse in reference to ‘civilization’, particularly the rivalvary between the Islamic and the Western civilizations. (iii) Finally, the article will discuss how the negative discourse on the Western civilization helps Islamists in domestic politics particularly in competition with the secular parties.

Title: BJP’s Anti-Muslim Civilizational Populism in India: Narratives and Policies

Abstract: The BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party), a far-right political party in India, came to power in 2014 after winning the absolute majority in the general election under the leadership of Modi. Since then, BJP and its two most essential leaders, Modi and Amit Shah, have created narratives, legislations, and policies to promote Hindu civilizational populism. For BJP, the Hindu civilization is a golden age that was attacked and destroyed by the Muslim invaders in the medieval period. The far-right party aims to revive the glory of Hindu civilization through the categorization of us vs. them. The party creates an antagonistic relationship between the ‘constructed people’ Hindus and the others, such as Muslims who were invaders, enemies of the land, and outsiders. BJP has constructed Muslims as enemies of Hindu civilization, its glory, and destruction of temples and monuments because it helped BJP to consolidate Hindu votes. The sheer polarization of the civilizational differences creates a permanent ‘fault line’ between Hindus and Muslims. In this sense, BJP has taken an aggressive and emboldened path under the leadership of Modi and Shah to implement legislations, expanding the claims on Kashi and Mathura Mosques after the victory on Ayodhya judgment through legislations and populist pressure and claiming the Qutub Minar and Taj Mahal to be Hindu monuments. BJP constructed ‘Muslims as enemies of the revival of the Hindu civilization. The paper analyses BJP’s a. most important 2 leaders’ Hindutva civilisational narratives with a special focus on anti-Muslim rhetoric and b. relevant policies, legislation, actions and practices on this issue such as the revival of Hindu civilization, reclaiming the Muslim monuments and religious places, re-writing history through the ‘othering’ and dehumanization of Muslims. The paper covers the period from 2014 to 2022. The paper expands the scope of the theories of populism from religious populism to civilizational populism in India and analyses this phenomenon with a focus on both narratives and policies.

Title: Civilisational replacement theories in populist far rightand islamist discourses
Abstract: Rooted in the premise and scholarship that modern populist constructions of far right and islamist discourses are co-dependent, this article examines the ontological and epistemological foundations of their shared civilizational identities. Tracing civilizational replacement theories as a central idea in both discourses, the article brings to the foreground a shared "populist mindset" to understand, reject, and mitigate changing demographics. Thus far, research on the use of replacement theories has focused on the modern far right, using rhetoric and performances, such as terror attacks in Norway, New Zealand, and more recently, the United States and Australia, as evidence. Taking a discourse-theoretical approach that posits the extra-linguistic nature of discourse, the article examines the symbolic and affective components of replacement discourses. In doing so, it shifts attention from the explicit to the implicit by attributing value to the unspoken embedded in the use of symbols, myths, and imagery to construct a clashing paradigm. By examining the Muslim as the dominant clashing subject in global politics, it reveals the hidden and disguised components that give both discourses its affective power. Connecting these mutually exclusive populist discourses through a civilizational lens contributes to current research that aims at comprehending the widespread support for a clashing civilizational paradigm.