On the Limits of a Left-Populist Nationalism: A Radical Democratic Critique of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Neo-Republicanism, 2015-2017

Situated within a post-foundationalist tradition of thought, and adopting the Essex School ‘logics approach’, I argue that nationalist articulations of left-populism invariably manifest as antithetical to radical democracy. I advance my argument through an in-depth case study of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s 2017 French presidential campaign. Despite embracing neo-republican nationalism to achieve minor success, Mélenchon failed to forge a new national hegemony. Beyond scrutiny of Mélenchon’s nationalist ‘turn’, the normative and strategic dangers of left-populist articulations of nationalism emerged as a hotly debated topic in political discourse theory literature. Drawing on historical and genealogical methodologies, nationalism and media studies, as well as Lacanian-psychoanalysis, I trace how the social, political and fantasmatic logics of Mélenchon’s left-populist neo-republican nationalism counteracted the establishment of a radically democratic regime. In doing so this thesis offers one of the first rigorous, critical analyses of Mélenchon’s left-populist campaign as situated within the context of the broader French tradition of neo-republican nationalism. In advancing the thesis argument, I first situate the Mélenchon campaign in the tradition of French neo-republican nationalism. Second, I critically assess how the intellectual and symbolic resources of this tradition are mobilized to construct a campaign organized around projected social logics of neo-republican citizenship. Third, I document how the ideology of neo-republican nationalism informs the organizational choices Mélenchon made in constructing the political logics of his campaign. Fourth, turning to psychoanalytic theories of nationalism and ideology, and Mélenchon’s ‘hologram rallies’ as a nationalist media spectacle, I explore the fantasmatic logics at stake to better appreciate why a progressive nationalism might fail to grip right-wing voters. The thesis makes conceptual and normative contributions to political discourse theory, particularly as concerns its understanding of left-populism, nationalism, radical democracy, and fantasy. In doing so I point to the need for, and potential of, an emergent post-national leftwing cosmopolitan project.