What Is Populism?
In 2017, in the wake of Brexit and Donald Trump’s first election win, populism was named the “word of the year” by Cambridge University Press .
Almost a decade later, we might have thought the term’s popularity would have faded.
But with Trump back in power in the United States , the Reform Party polling very well in the United Kingdom , and Argentinian president Javier Milei wielding his chainsaw at public events, populism is very much still with us.
But what is populism? Is it a left or right phenomenon? And is it here to stay?
Put simply, populism is a political phenomenon that revolves around the central divide between “the people” and “the elite”.
Although there is agreement on this divide, academics tend to disagree on two things when it comes to populism.
The first is what kind of phenomenon it is. Is populism an ideology (that is, a belief system)? A strategy ? Or is it a kind of performative political style ?
Secondly, experts disagree on whether populism is a threat or corrective to democracy. Some think it can be both .
Much of the confusion about populism stems from the fact that it can appear across the ideological spectrum.
This is because “the people” and “the elite” are flexible terms, and populists can characterise them in very different ways.
Right-wing populists tend to characterise “the people” in socio-cultural terms, and often combine their populism with nativism.
Think for instance, of how Trump’s “people” are coded as White Americans .
Or, how Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi evokes Hindu nationalism in his definition of “the people”.
Other prominent right-wing populist leaders include the likes of Viktor Orban of Hungary, Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom, Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, and Australia’s Pauline Hanson.
Left-wing populists, meanwhile, tend to characterise “the people” in socio-economic terms. They often combine their populism with calls for economic redistribution or shifts in power.
Examples include Latin American populist leaders like Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela , who sought to bring the poor into their conception of “the people”.
In the US, Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential primary campaigns put the working class and people in precarious work at the heart of his ” people “.
Other examples of left-wing populism include the Podemos and Syriza parties in Spain and Greece respectively.
This also means the way populists tend to define “the elite” is quite different.
Right-wing populist targets often include:
These groups are connected in right-wing populist discourse and purported to be undermining “the people’s” livelihood by abetting increased immigration or the destruction of “traditional values”.
Left-wing populists tend to target business and power elites, who they see as fleecing “the people” economically and keeping them from expressing their popular power (think of Occupy Wall Street’s divide between the 99% and the 1%).
Populists also tend to have a suspicion of transnational organisations. But while right-wing populists tend to focus on the likes of the United Nations and World Health Organisation, left-wing populists are more suspicious of business transnationals such as the World Trade Organization or World Economic Forum.
After every major election where a populist leader or party succeeds, there is inevitably talk of a ” populist earthquake “, ” populist wave ” or ” populist tsunami “.
These metaphors suggest populism has come out of nowhere, and is causing a major and unexpected shock to the system.
But that’s simply not the case.
If anything, the story of 21st century politics has been one in which populism has become “normalised” and “mainstreamed”.
Populists are no longer merely “challenger” parties nor minor parties .
They increasingly are among the top three parties in their respective countries (particularly in Europe), and have won government in places from the US to India to the Netherlands to Italy to Greece.
This success has seen them steadily viewed as viable and “normal” political players .
Meanwhile, mainstream parties and leaders have increasingly adopted elements of populists’ discourse, platforms and political styles, as a way to compete with populists .
This, ironically, has had the effect of legitimising populists in many countries; it makes their policies and discourse look more “acceptable”.
It’s important to be cynical about any pundit crowing about the “death” of populism – or, on the flipside, the idea it has come out of nowhere.
Populism is here to stay. Acknowledging that can help us better understand its appeal, which in turn, can provide hints about how to best deal with it.
Benjamin Moffitt receives or has received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation.