Populism in the 21st century: Today, tomorrow, always?

Abstract

The concept of populism has been known since Antiquity. However, in recent decades it gained new prominence amongst politicians and political experts. The present paper attempts to reconstruct the image of populism of the 21st century and to assess the viability of populist parties and movements involved in the context of current social and political processes within Western societies. The first section of the paper examines various definitions of populism elaborated by both Russian and foreign political scholars. On that basis the author attempts to identify the core meaning of this phenomenon, its historic roots and psychological underpinnings, as well as a social-political profile today. The author highlights such constituent elements of the populist discourse that crystallized throughout its development, as direct appeal to the public sentiments, oversimplification of reality and the use of manipulative techniques. The second section of the paper examines the origins and characteristic features of the populist wave that spanned across both developed and developing countries in the early 21st century. For that matter, the effects of globalization are considered particularly problematic, as they have uncertain implications for international relations and exacerbate social and economic tensions even within developed societies creating both ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. They also allowed various populist movements to take advantage of the growing social instability in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. Additionally, the author links the recent rise in the populist sentiments to the deepening crisis of traditional political party systems, the erosion of principles of parliamentarianism and the development of new information and communication technologies. The author stresses that in these circumstances different charismatic leaders gain new opportunities for mobilizing public support. The research concludes that the prospects for the ongoing populist wave are best described by a formula, proposed by a German political scientist Klaus von Beyme: ‘Populism never lasts very long — but it is somehow always around’.