Maiguashca, B and Dean, J orcid.org/0000-0002-1028-0566 (2020) ‘Lovely people but utterly deluded’? British political science’s trouble with Corbynism. British Politics, 15 (1). pp. 48-68. ISSN 1746-918X
Abstract
This paper argues that political scientists in Britain have, for the most part, failed to adequately understand Corbynism (i.e. the movement surrounding the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn) as a distinctive iteration of left politics. To substantiate this claim, we begin by mapping a consensus in British political science scholarship about the central features of Corbynism, namely that it is a misguided politics characterised by poor leadership, a ‘hard left’ ideological orientation, and a populist flavour. In the second part of the paper, we suggest that this unfavourable characterisation of Corbynism relies on problematic analytic assumptions about leadership, the left, and populism. Furthermore, we argue that such narratives do not withstand empirical scrutiny, largely because they fail to do justice to the heterogeneous strands that constitute the politics of Corbynism. In the final part of the paper, we offer an explanation for political scientists’ trouble with Corbyn, highlighting the continued dominance of the Westminster Model, widespread confusion surrounding the descriptive/normative relation, and considerable convergence between academic and media depictions of Corbynism. Overall, we suggest that political scientists’ failure to take seriously the full complexity of the Corbyn movement requires rectification.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Springer Nature Limited, 2019. This is an author produced version of an article published in British Politics. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Corbyn; Labour party; Left politics; Political science; Westminster model |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Leverhulme Trust Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jun 2019 11:34 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jul 2020 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/s41293-019-00124-5 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:147365 |