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Summary of the book: Populism: A very short introduction by Mudde, C., & Kaltwasser, C.R. (2017)
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Summary Populism: a very short introductionC. Mudde & C.R. Kaltwasser (2017)
1 What is populism?
Different approaches to populism
• Popular agency approach
o Populism means a democratic way of life build through popular engagement in
politics
o Populism is considered essentially as a positive force for the mobilization of the
(common) people and for the development of a communitarian model of democracy
• Laclauan approach
o Populism is considered not only as the essence of politics, but also as an
emancipatory force
o Liberal democracy is the problem and radical democracy is the solution → populism
can help achieve radical democracy by reintroducing conflict into politics and
fostering the mobilization of excluded sectors of society with the aim of changing the
status quo
• Socioeconomic approach
o Populism primarily as a type of irresponsible economic policy, characterized by
▪ A first period of massive spending financed by foreign debt
▪ A second period marked by hyperinflation and implementation of harsh
economic adjustments
o More popular form → populist economics refers to a political program that is
considered irresponsible because it involves (too) much redistribution of wealth and
government spending
• More recent approach
o Populism as a political strategy employed by a specific type of leader who seeks to
govern based on direct and unmediated support from their followers
o Emphasize that populism implies the emergence of a strong and charismatic figure,
who concentrates power and maintains a direct connection with the masses →
populism cannot persist over time, as the leader sooner or later will die and a
conflict-ridden process for this replacement is inevitable
• Populism predominantly as a folkloric style of politics, which leaders and parties employ to
mobilize the masses
o Populism alludes to amateurish and unprofessional political behaviour that aims to
maximize media attention and popular support → disrespecting the dress code and
language manners → populist actors can present themselves as different and novel
and as courageous leaders who stand with ‘the people’ in opposition to ‘the elite’
An ideational approach → conceiving populism as a discourse, and ideology or a worldview
• Agreement: all forms of populism include some kind of appeal to ‘the people’ and a
denunciation of ‘the elite’ → critique of the establishment and an adulation of the common
people
1
, Authors’ definition of populism:
“Populism as a thin-centered ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into
two homogeneous and antagonistic camps, “the pure people” versus “the corrupt elite,” and
which argues that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of
the people”
• ‘Thin-centered ideology’
o Thin-centered ideologies such as populism have a restricted morphology, which
necessarily appears attached to -and sometimes is even assimilated into- other
ideologies → populism by itself can offer neither complex nor comprehensive
answers to the political questions that modern societies generate
o Populism seldom exists in a pure form → it appears in combination with, and
manages to survive thanks to, other concepts
• One of the main critiques against ideational definitions of populism is that they are too broad
and that they can potentially apply to all political actors, movements and parties → the
definition has to exclude certain types (non-populism): exclusion of
o Elitism
▪ Shares populism’s basic monist and Manichean distinction of society,
between a homogeneous “good” and a homogeneous “evil”, but it holds an
opposite view on the virtues of the groups
• Elitists believe that “the people” are dangerous dishonest and vulgar,
and that “the elite” are superior not only in moral, but also in
cultural and intellectual terms
o Pluralism
▪ Direct opposite of the dualist perspective of both populism and elitism, and
instead holding that society is divided into a broad variety of partly
overlapping social groups with different ideas and interests → within
pluralism diversity is seen as a strength rather than a weakness
▪ Society should have many centres of power and that politics, through
compromise and consensus, should reflect the interests and values of as
many different groups as possible
• Fundamental difference between populism and clientelism
o Clientelism
▪ Particular mode of exchange between electoral constituencies and
politicians, in which voters obtain goods (e.g. direct payments of privileged
access to employment, goods and services) conditioned on their support for
a patron or party
▪ It is a strategy, used by leaders and parties (of different ideologies) to win
and exercise political power
o Populism
▪ First and foremost an ideology, which can be shared by different political
actors and constituencies
2
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