Authoritarian Populism and the Republic of Heaven in Philip Pullman’s

Abstract

Abstract The chief antagonist of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series is the Magisterium, a powerful multinational religious organization reminiscent of the Roman Catholic Church. In the first two novels of the new Book of Dust trilogy, Pullman expands upon the original series and further explores the authoritarian populist tactics utilized by the various branches of the Magisterium to assert its authority and to exert a commanding influence over state politics. Set in opposition to the Magisterium is the republic of heaven, which invokes the underlying principles of Milton’s republicanism and seeks to establish a democratic and egalitarian society. This paper examines Pullman’s representation of authoritarian populism in the agencies of the Magisterium, and contrasts this with the democratic vision of the republic of heaven. It argues that in drawing on Milton’s republicanism, Pullman is less concerned with a specific mode of government than with the underlying principles of republicanism that seek to enable the shared participation of the members of a society in its governance and which serve as a means to circumvent the potential for tyranny that accompanies the concentration of power. In invoking Milton, Pullman, however, fails to account for the tension in Milton’s politics between his support for a free and equal polity and his elitist stance towards governance founded upon a belief in humanity’s inherent fallibility. Unlike Milton, whose view of democracy is informed by a belief in Biblical ‘truth,’ Pullman conceives of democracy as a system that underpins pluralism and which facilitates the dynamic exchange of a socio-political collective. His representation of the Magisterium and the republic of heaven are shown to be directly concerned with the dangers posed by hegemonic ideology, as well as the oppressive forms that it can take.