Chapter 10
In: The Spirit of Populism
Search for other papers by Zoran Grozdanov in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
The call “We are the people” echoed throughout Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was a call for democratic participation in the formation of new states. But “We are the people” also echoes through Europe today, albeit as a call for a ‘true people.’ In today’s South East Europe, particularly in the Western Balkans, populist politics relies on the concept of an ethnically, religiously, and culturally homogenous people, combined with the nationalism that was present in the formation of new nation states during the 1990s. This chapter investigates the theological support for nationalism and patriotism that fuels the populist movements in the countries of the Western Balkans. Zoran Grozdanov analyzes and assesses texts by Pope John Paul II and their reception in the Western Balkan in order to show how the Pope draws his political theological thought about the identities of particular cultural and ethnic groups from the conceptualization of the Incarnation.