A seminar from the Alfred Deakin Institute’s Governance, Development and Peace stream and Polis research network.

Populism has been a phenomenon storming through the 21st century. We read, hear and watch it performed with its contested meanings and various shapes in every aspects of the social life across the world. In some cases, it emerges as an individual leader, or in other cases as a social movement or political party.

It is becoming a prevailing phenomenon, highly linked with defined characteristics of the time; the ‘post-truth era’ in which populism as a performance has found fertile grounds to flourish. Religion has been one of these fertile grounds and instruments in the hands of populists.

Our panel of experts will discuss this issue in relation to Brexit, Trumpism, masculinity, Islamism, Turkey and Pakistan.

PRESENTATIONS & BIOS

The New Demagogues: Religion, Masculinity and the Populist Epoch

Dr Joshua M. Roose is a Senior Research Fellow (Religion and Politics) at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. He has held visiting positions at New York University, Harvard Law School and most recently, the ICLRS at BYU where he was a recent graduate from the BYU Oxford Young Scholars in Religion and the Rule of Law program.

The Rise of Islamist Populism in Turkey

Dr. Galib Bashirov is a researcher at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University. His research focuses on young Muslims in Australia, as well as state-society relations in Turkey and Azerbaijan. His previous articles appeared in Democratization, Third World Quarterly and Australian Journal of International Affairs.

Populism in Pakistan: A comparative analysis of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Imran Khan

Dr Zahid Shahab Ahmed is a research fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Professor at Centre for International Peace and Stability, National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan. His work focuses on political developments and groups (e.g. democratisation, authoritarianism and political Islam), and inter-state relations in South Asia and the Middle East. A Pakistani citizen, Dr Ahmed brings a much-needed citizen’s perspective to research on the country. He also brings rich grassroots level experience in the development sector in Asia to his research. He has produced over 50 research papers. His recent publications have appeared in prominent journals, such as Politics and Religion, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Asian Studies Review, and Territory, Politics, Governance. He is the author of Regionalism and Regional Security in South Asia: The Role of SAARC (Routledge, 2013). Twitter: @DrZahidShahab

Find out more about the Governance, Development and Peace stream on the ADI website and the Polis (Politics and International Studies) research Network here.