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Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, Marine Le Pen, Hugo Chávez—populists are on the rise across the globe. But what exactly is populism? Should everyone who criticizes Wall Street or Washington be called a populist? What precisely is the difference between right-wing and left-wing populism? Does populism bring government closer to the people or is it a threat to democracy? Who are "the people" anyway and who can speak in their name? These questions have never been more pressing. In this groundbreaking volume, Jan-Werner Müller argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Müller also shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people." The book proposes a number of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists and, in particular, how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority" or "the real people." Analytical, accessible, and provocative, What Is Populism? is grounded in history and draws on examples from Latin America, Europe, and the United States to define the characteristics of populism and the deeper causes of its electoral successes in our time.… (more)
User reviews
Reading this book reminded me of college courses I took to complete some last semester requirements - you know the ones, word of mouth had it that there was no paper to write, no midterm, an easy A, only a one question essay final exam, but lots of boring lectures and you HAD to go.
I only wanted to learn some basic stuff - how come populism doesn't seem to last very long?, was Hitler a populist? what can we expect from our new administration? is our new President a real populist or a FAKE populist? Instead I got words like pluralism, antipluralist, liberalism, individualism, materialism, atheism, majoritarinaism, constitutionalism,elitism, and ochlocracy. Yes, "ochlocracy", I hadn't heard that word for at least a week.
For many of us, who call leaders populist, in our daily speech, there has never been a clear definition, or guideline, to defining what it is. This book provides this. It is a short book, and this makes it even more valuable, in my eyes, as there
Jan-Werner Muller avoids this trap, and goes to the heart of the subject.
Could he have analysed more? I would say yes. For instance, what sort of populist would Bernie Sanders make, versus Trump. However, I assume that this was not the subject of the book.
So, all in all, an excellent book.
For many of us, who call leaders populist, in our daily speech, there has never been a clear definition, or guideline, to defining what it is. This book provides this. It is a short book, and this
Jan-Werner Muller avoids this trap and goes to the heart of the subject.
Could he have analysed more? I would say yes. For instance, what sort of populist would Bernie Sanders make, versus Trump. However, I assume that this was not the subject of the book.
I can clearly see parallels in the India of today.
So, overall, an excellent book.