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Paper short abstract

This study equates the cases of controversial pilgrimage to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine and to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, as political spectacles, in order to come closer to understanding the essence of New Nationalist Populism (NNP) as a political logic, a style, a strategy and an ideology.

Paper long abstract

New Nationalist Populism (NNP) is emerging as of late as an increasingly significant phenomenon which is still considered by many to be inadequately understood by contemporary research. Most scholars agree that populism is a constant shadow over liberal-democracy, and that in its current form it is a new and innovative development of the strand. However, some view it as political logic, or a culture of discourse, while others argue on whether populism is a form of style, a strategy, or a possibly thin-centered guiding ideology. In other words, in the literature, there is still a fundamental lack of consensus as to what the essence of populism is, and in particular Nationalist Populism in its current form.

Simultaneously to the research on populism, an increasingly significant body of scholarship has developed in recent decades concerning controversial pilgrimages by nationalist, religious-nationalist and nationalist-populist actors to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine and to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Both under similar framing of “provocation”, and both under an underlying assumption of the case studies to be unique and essentialist local expressions of political/cultural behavior.

Considering these trends, and using an innovative transcultural theoretical framework, as well as qualitative data, this research aims to demonstrate three things: First, to show that these controversial pilgrimages are not as unique and essentialist as assumed, but rather similar expressions of the same transcultural trend of political logic. Second, to elaborate on these “provocations” as political spectacles in a populist environment. And third, to shed light on the essence of populism by equating these comparable case studies – one from a system which is largely considered a particularly severe case of NNP (Israel) and one from a system which is still largely considered behind trend when it comes to NNP development (Japan).