Populism as African Fascism? Examining the Economic Freedom Fighters in Postapartheid South Africa

Abstract

Abstract:The twenty-first-century global resurgence in populism has raised academic contention over whether populism undermines or deepens democracy. This question is particularly relevant in postcolonial contexts such as South Africa. Populism can be of both the left and right. Fascism, one permutation of it, has been confined by leftist academics to right-radical nationalism. Contemporary South African populism in the form of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the country's third-largest political party, confounds neat categorization. An academic and political debate has ensued about whether the EFF presents a fascist threat to South African democracy. This article extends the scrutiny of the EFF beyond what has been undertaken thus far, to situate and analyze it in relation to economic, political, and social features of fascism, contextual and ideological conditions, and the use of rhetoric and violence.