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Performance, Theatricality and the Us Presidency - by Julia Peetz
About this item
Highlights
- The erosion of trust in politicians and political institutions is a major challenge in early twenty-first-century democratic politics, not least in the United States.
- Author(s): Julia Peetz
- 216 Pages
- Political Science, American Government
Description
About the Book
Proposes a new perspective on the contemporary rise of mainstreamed populism by exploring features of populist-style politics through the lens of distrust
Book Synopsis
The erosion of trust in politicians and political institutions is a major challenge in early twenty-first-century democratic politics, not least in the United States. This book argues that, rather than being a flaw or corruption, the potential for political distrust must be understood as an essential feature of representative democracy because representation works through performance. The book explores performance as a constellation of factors: scripts, embodiment, ideas of selfhood, and historical norms and ideals. It draws on key scholarship of political representation, rhetoric, and populism; on theories of performativity, theatricality, and acting; and on interviews the author conducted with political speechwriters spanning presidential administrations and campaigns from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama to demonstrate both that distrust is inherent in representative politics and that in mainstreamed populism distrust becomes a focal point around which the theatre of politics revolves.
Review Quotes
Going beyond well-worn and simple theatrical metaphors to describe political action, Julia Peetz's new book offers a sophisticated - and genuinely interdisciplinary - blend of performance and political analysis. Readers will find compelling new approaches to, and arguments about, crucial factors in political life, from legitimacy and representation to distrust, authenticity and populism. The book's in-depth engagement with the past and present of US presidential performance is both illuminating and insightful.-- "Michael Saward, University of Warwick"
In an impressive feat of cross-disciplinary scholarship, this book combines insights from theater and performance studies with political studies and interviews with presidential speechwriters to understand modern US politics and the rise of Populism. [...] Recommended.--J. R. Vile, Middle Tennessee State University "CHOICE, January 2024"