Understanding Populist Foreign Policy: Comparing Foreign Policy Narratives

• In Event: The Rise of Populist Foreign Policy

Abstract

The rise of populism has led scholars to invest considerable efforts to understand the nature, determinants, and influence of populism in politics. An interesting development of recent years as been the transition of populist movements from an ideology at the margin of society to a political force now establishing and assuming the leadership of several countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. This “rags to riches” conversion has forced populist governments across the world to articulate and implement a foreign policy. Interestingly, there has been limited attempts to theorize formally the tenants of populism with respect to foreign policy. Much of existing scholarship on populism has focused on the domestic dimension of this phenomenon; neglecting the growing influence of populism on foreign policy decision-making and, correspondingly, its impact on state behaviour. Furthermore, the existing literature on populism and foreign policy has focused on particular case studies from Europe or Latin America and lacks a more general cross-cases validity and generalizability. In order to address both this theoretical and empirical gap in our understanding of populism, we propose to examine how populist policy-makers from Europe (Italy, Poland, Hungary), America (US, Brazil), Asia (Philippines), and the Middle East (Turkey, Iran) frame foreign policy priorities. Accordingly, we develop a qualitative comparative analysis modeling of populist foreign policy narratives by adopting an “ideological” approach to populism and study the fundamental underpinning of a populist foreign policy.

Authors

• Jean-Christophe Boucher, MacEwan University

• Cameron G. Thies, Arizona State University