Populism

This article reviews a selection of works on populism. Theoretical contributions concerning definitional and conceptual aspects of populism are discussed, as well as the conditions under which populism is likely. The focus is mainly on the relationship between populism and representative democracy. The overview of the theoretical literature shows that while in the 1960s there was no consensus on the meaning of populism, in the more recent literature there is agreement on at least two characteristics that are central to populism: a strong focus by populist leaders on the ‘people’, and an implicit or explicit reference to an ‘anti-group’, often the political elite, against which the ‘people’ is positioned. The usefulness of such a minimal definition is shown by looking at cases of populism in Russia, the United States, Western Europe and Latin America.