Populism in Plain Sight

• In Event: Politics Beyond the Left-Right Spectrum

Abstract

Populism has become one of the most widely discussed issues in recent years. Scholars broadly agree that populism is a significant phenomenon with political implications in regions across the world. A significant amount of the literature on populism has focused on populism within radical parties, particularly concerning radical right parties in Europe in recent years and radical left parties in Latin America. This is contrasted, however, by a dearth of work on populism within mainstream parties, particularly over time. Using a new measure of populism, I show how populism has increased within a number of parties across both center-right and center-left, with this rise particularly prominent within center-right parties in the past two decades. I argue that the weakening of liberal democracy in many countries in recent years is not primarily the result of radical populist parties, but actually the result of mainstream parties becoming more populist. This is because populism changes the structure of national politics when major mainstream parties become increasingly populist. The effect becomes magnified when major mainstream parties on both the left and right become increasingly populist, as a party on one side will increase party populism more rapidly than opponents in a strategic bid to differentiate themselves from the opposition.

Author

• Dan Ziebarth, George Washington University