What Mamdani Can Teach Us About Left-wing Populism And Social Democracy

Few politicians since the turn of the century have taken the world by storm quite like Zohran Mamadani. He seems to have graduated from the Tony Blair school of charming and underproduced campaign videos, swapping the three-piece suits and out-of-date TikTok trends of his peers for genuine, boots-on-the-ground campaigning. And, if you ignore the added benefit of speaking three different languages, it worked. Mamdani was sworn in as the 112^th Mayor of New York City at the turn of the new year and, with the cheers and fireworks, came a fresh wave of scepticism. Surely his campaign promises of such faraway concepts as frozen rent and free transport and childcare would soon be replaced by the tried and tested “we’re working on a way to make everybody happy”? But, alas, Mamdani appears to be sticking to his word, and in the process is illuminating a path to success for the left-wing of Western politics.

For years, the ways in which the Left can utilise populism as a political tool has been a keen focus for political theorists. Writers like Chantal Mouffe, for example, believe that as we move further into the “populist moment” that began with figures like Trump and Farage in the mid-2010s, the only way for the Left to modernise as a political movement is to adopt the same political tactics – the argument being that identity politics and popular support, as opposed to steadfast morals and air-tight manifestos, bring about electoral success in this day and age. As somewhat of a gross over-generalisation of the literature, the suggestion was that the modern Left are far more ethical and well-intentioned than the far-right, so using populist methods to garner support would be better morally justified and less exploitative.

Until these past three months or so, these ideas were largely theoretical. Barring moderate success from Spain’s Podemos party, acting in a coalition government until 2023, the Left in Western politics was suffering significant electoral losses to the rise of far-right and nationalist populism. I must here confess to having engaged with the literature surrounding left-wing populism, in my undergraduate dissertation, concluding that it was not an avenue left-wing politicians should be pursuing. Figures like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, in my eyes, had proved it was a futile avenue for political success, and the very act of a populist campaign juxtaposed the nature of social democracy altogether. To spare the details of a 22-year-old’s political philosophy thesis, populism undermines democracy, so we may as well just let the right-wing implode upon itself while the Left slowly builds up its credibility the old-fashioned way. But that, on such a monumental scale, appears to be where Mamdani has proved me wrong. 

As long as I’ve been truly involved with international politics, with my earliest memories coming from the Trump-Clinton debates of 2015, populism has worn the ugly face of the far-right; rampant with lies, division and general unpleasantness. For men like Nigel Farage and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, so devoid of any semblance of charisma or approachability, their only option for any social or political success came in the form of driving the public so far away from one another that disagreement with one topic became an all-out support for those arguing the opposite – be it feminism, transgenderism, immigration, or something even more menial. 

However, Mamdani is lighting a different path for populism - as it happens, you can make someone support you just as much by making them love you than by making them hate someone else. But people are not clinging to him through some manipulation or external factor – the public love Mamdani because he means what he says.

There seems to be no disingenuity, no lies and no exterior motives behind what Mamdani tells the people of New York. The only thing he may be guilty of, perhaps, is over-optimism. But aside from that, he appears to mean every word of what he says, as outlandish as it may have seemed as he campaigned last year. Within days of becoming mayor he had established housing task-forces, worked together with Governor Kathy Hochul to provide free childcare for two-year-olds and even set about reconstructing the cycle path on the Williamsburg Bridge. So, when he speaks, it truly does appear he speaks from the heart.

As I see it, this is the lesson the left-wing should be taking from Mamdani. The population of New York is not directly applicable to entire European populations, granted, but people across the globe are latching onto Mamdani as a saviour. Populism doesn’t need to take the form of division and hatred – it can take the form of well-presented and easily accessible social democratic policies. Left-wing parties can’t just be “the one that isn’t Reform”, “the one that isn’t AfD”, or “the one that isn’t Le Pen”, because what do the public have to latch onto once that election is finished? Zohran Mamdani is proving that the best way to gain the support of the public, the purest form of populism, isn’t just promising, but showing people they can have a better life ahead of them.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/InformedImages

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