Populism, democracy and property: An interview with Mark Devenney

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/0103-2070.ts.2026.243709

Keywords:

Populism, Democracy, Property, Post-foundational theory, Far right

Abstract

In this interview, the philosopher Mark Devenney, professor at the University of Brighton and co-director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (Cappe), discusses the scope and limits of populist theory within post-foundational and post-Marxist thought. He distinguishes populism from democracy and argues that democracy must be understood as an incessant practice of equality that destabilises “proper” ways of being, while reintroducing property and colonial legacies as central to the analysis of contemporary political logics. The conversation also turns to recent Brazil, strained between Lulism and the rise of the far right, and to the dilemmas of the left in the face of historical inequality, coloniality and environmental destruction.

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Author Biographies

  • Guilherme Figueredo Benzaquen, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos

    Postdoctoral fellow in Sociology at the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP/UERJ), funded by CNPq. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the Federal University of Pernambuco (PPGS/UFPE). He works in the field of political sociology, conducting research on collective violence, social movements, and critical theory.

  • Mark Devenney, University of Brighton

    Mark Devenney is Professor of Critical Theory at the University of Brighton (UK) and Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE). He holds a PhD from the University of Essex. He is the author of Ethics and Politics in Contemporary Theory (Routledge, 2004) and Towards an Improper Politics (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

References

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Published

2026-09-01

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Entrevistas

How to Cite

Benzaquen, G. F., & Devenney, M. (2026). Populism, democracy and property: An interview with Mark Devenney. Tempo Social, 38(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.11606/0103-2070.ts.2026.243709

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