Il tecnopopulismo come strumento di stigmatizzazione del conflitto politico nelle democrazie rappresentative

With the crisis of traditional parties in main European democracies, political conflict is undergoing a phase of anesthesia. Socio-economic inequalities no longer fuel the ideological dimension of political competition. After the 2008 crisis, anti-establishment movements sparked political conflict with the rise of populism. But now, parties are focused on self-preservation and there’s a trend of depoliticization, leading to a new logic in politics: technopopulism. On one hand, appeals to competence and experience are used to overcome the depoliticization of political problems, and on the other hand, rejection of ideological divisions and the appeal to the “people” have combined populist and technocratic rhetorics. Examples of this are the Macron and Draghi governments in France and Italy, combining technocratic policies with populist narratives, aiming to weaken political conflict in the name of popular interest. The future of European integration may see a normalization of the ideological illusion hidden by technopopulisms. This overview also considers the importance of the centralization of power in the office of the head of government in representative democracies.