Populist Leaders Research Articles

Protecting the people: populism and masculine security in India and Hungary

ABSTRACT The article contributes to a comparative understanding of populism, securitization, and ontological security by demonstrating how masculinity plays a central role in invocations of insecurity. We argue that masculinity, understood as a set of gendered relations that helps in forging affective communities between populist leaders, the people, and objects of securitization, can provide useful insights into the political practice of populism and securitization. Building upon an analysis of the speeches of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, this article shows how right-wing populist constructions of security function by accommodating objects of securitization within an imaginary of family and kinship and invoking a familial bond between the populist leader and the objects of securitization. These constructions of security and terrorism are built upon similar gendered relations and influences across national contexts. In their constructions of security, both populist leaders invoke love and pride in gendered ways to create a familial bond between the populist leader and the people, even as they engage in acts of violence toward objects of securitization within a familial order by deploying idioms of kinship and the family.

The Populist Name Game: About Populism and Naming

For populist leaders, naming is an important political tool, helping them to consolidate their leadership while harming the legitimacy of their opponents. The article offers a theoretical framework explaining populist tactical uses of naming; how they name and misname their opponents. The explanation locates the naming tactics within the overall populist framework as a thin-centered ideology. The following three naming tactics are described and analyzed: (1) coining ridiculing nicknames, (2) appropriating existing nicknames, and (3) avoiding the opponent’s name. To substantiate the theoretical arguments, we discursively analyze these three tactics, as were employed by the former US president, Donald Trump, the prime minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

The Problem with Authoritarian Populists

We assume that even though voters prefer the policies of their favoured leader they value democracy more greatly. This means that voters on both sides of a polarised policy divide would be willing to sacrifice their preferred policy if it would mean preserving democracy. However voters on one side are unsure whether voters on the other side share this commitment to democracy. We show that in such a situation an autocratic populist leader can act in ways that will undermine opposing voters beliefs that the leader’s supporters continue to value democracy. If these beliefs become pessimistic enough, a self-reinforcing cycle of mutual suspicion between voters on opposing sides leads to the inexorable demise of democracy and its replacement by autocratic rule. Understanding this, an elected leader who aspires to rule via non-democratic means may follow such autocratic populist policies in order to entrench their rule. JEL Classifications: D72, P16, P17, P48

Framing Strategies for the Populist Coverage: Exploring Press of India and Pakistan

This research paper examines the framing of political news coverage in Pakistan and India, focusing on the prominent English-language newspapers Dawn and The Hindu, respectively. Utilizing content analysis of news spanning pre-election and post-election periods, the study reveals significant variations in framing strategies employed by the two newspapers. Dawn exhibits a notable emphasis on anti-elite frames, particularly during electoral phases, while allocating comparatively fewer news stories to people-centric framing. In contrast, The Hindu demonstrates a more consistent approach, The distribution of coverage differs, with Pakistan showing heightened scrutiny of political conduct prior to elections and increased focus on Government Execution in post-election. Furthermore, there is a noticeable shift towards negative tone in post-election coverage, reflecting public expectations for accountability and governance effectiveness. These findings underscore the dynamic nature of press coverage in shaping public discourse and highlight the evolving priorities and concerns within the political landscapes of Pakistan and India. Keywords: Populism, Framing Strategies, populist leaders, General Election India, General Election Pakistan

Nie taki wilk straszny – strukturalne uwarunkowania populizmu w głównym nurcie amerykańskiej demokracji

Analyzing various types of populism, we face the question of the role of tension between leaders and the structures of political systems, we face the question of the role of tension between leaders and the structures of political systems. This tension creates the „institutional paradox of populism”, in which populist leaders may rely on the institutions that are the subject of their criticism on their way to power and in how they exercise it. What unites the various perspectives on populism is that they most often contain a negative evaluative element, suggesting that the phenomena of populism are an undesirable departure from „normality”. The following text indicates that in American democracy it is quite the opposite. Phenomena associated with populism are a permanent and indispensable element of mainstream American politics. To illustrate this thesis, the convergence between the classic features of populism and the features defining the character of American democracy was demonstrated. This convergence is a derivative of the durable structures of American democracy.

How Populism Affects Bioethics.

This article aims at raising awareness about the intersection of populism and bioethics. It argues that illiberal forms of populism may have negative consequences on the evolution of bioethics as a discipline and on its practical objectives. It identifies at least seven potential negative effects: (1) The rise of populist leaders fosters "epistemological populism," devaluing the expert and scientific perspectives on which bioethics is usually based, potentially steering policies away from evidence-based foundations. (2) The impact of "moral populism" is evident in legislative prioritization of the "morality of common people," often solicited through popular consultations on issues like abortion, drug legalization, or LGBT issues. (3)Populist distrust in autonomous governmental agencies and advisory bodies, including national bioethics commissions, can compromise expert advice, challenging both their authority and decisions. (4) Populists may erode transparency by undermining institutions responsible for it, hindering access to vital information for bioethical research. (5)"Medical populism" creates adversarial dynamics, prompting politicians to make simplistic healthcare policy decisions based on political rather than informed criteria, adversely affecting vulnerable populations. (6)Radical-right populist parties' "welfare chauvinism" may shape healthcare policies, impacting service access and resource allocation, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups such as migrants, but indirectly affecting the rest of the population. (7)Nationalist sentiments associated with populism may obstruct international collaborations, posing challenges for global bioethics that seeks to address ethical concerns beyond national borders. In summary, these dynamics raise significant bioethical concerns encompassing evidence-based decision-making, transparency, healthcare equity, and global collaboration. How bioethicists may respond to these challenges is discussed.

The political economy of populists in power, between policy and polity: Evidence from the Israeli case

This paper explores the connection between the current wave of populism, economic policies and governance practices. We first review the different ways in which populist political economy has been conceptualised, focusing on the relationship between populism and neoliberalism in terms of both policy and polity. We then briefly discuss right-wing populist governments’ recent economic policies and institutional changes. We argue that, while representing a continuation of neoliberalism in some areas, right-wing populism may, when in power, undermine neoliberal economic policies and institutional power by subverting governance norms and reintroducing the state as a major actor in the economy. To demonstrate and support our argument, we analyse the Israeli case, in which the right-wing populist leader Benjamin Netanyahu led three governmental coalitions between 2009 and 2019. We focus on the Israeli government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis and the housing crisis. We show that the populist Israeli government went beyond clientelism and welfare chauvinism and moved towards a more redistributive and expansionist economic agenda. To finance and legislate this agenda, it used unorthodox, short-term governance practices to bypass or overcome institutional limitations.

Why populist rule sustains during times of crisis: COVID-19, democracy and the state in Indonesia

This article explains why populist rule persists during the challenging times of COVID-19, yet democratic order is unfavourably affected. The authors observe the recent debates on the state government's crisis response and performance, which argue for democracy over populism in managing critical moments. Populists did not do well since they had taken simplistic and anti-science actions on COVID-19. Nonetheless, populism remains popular and populist leaders continue to stay in office. We offer an analysis of the case of Indonesia under the presidency of Joko Widodo (Jokowi). Our research draws upon Michael Mann's theory of the state to uncover the underlying social realities enabling populist regime sustainability. The main argument is that the complex and dynamic state–society power relations shape the ground on which populist rule survives the crisis, but democracy declines. Jokowi's Indonesia confirms this claim.

Populist Inclusion of Ecuadorian Emigrants under Rafael Correa’s Presidency

Abstract This article studies Rafael Correa’s populist inclusion of Ecuadorian emigrants. It unpacks Correa’s inclusionary populism toward the emigrants at symbolic, political, and material levels. The article utilizes a qualitative content analysis of Correa’s weekly TV show, the Citizen Link (2007–2017). The findings reveal that Correa considered the emigrants as part of “the people,” who were forced to leave the country after the 1999 Banking Crisis. In line with his left-wing populist leadership, Correa viewed them as the victims of neoliberalism and the financial elite. Moreover, Correa politically included the emigrants by extending their voting rights and creating permanent seats in the National Assembly. Finally, Correa materially included the Ecuadorian emigrants by increasing the number of embassies, consulates, and cultural houses as well as facilitating the emigrants’ return. These findings have implications for the relationship between populism and emigration in Latin America and other migrant-sending regions.

Indonesian Political Populism in the Agrarian Sector

This article seeks to understand the role of populist ideology in marginalizing the agrarian sector and the agrarian populism movement in Indonesia in the Reformation Era. Indonesia is an agricultural country, so such marginalization and the limited involvement of the agrarian movement is ironic. Development studies see the marginalization of the agrarian sector as a consequence of the reorientation of economic development towards the industrial and service sectors, mostly in urban areas. Studies like this often do not look at the political side of the marginalization. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the phenomenon in Indonesia utilizing Margaret Canovan’s populist approach. The findings show the influence of political populism on the marginalization of the agrarian sector in the reformation era in Indonesia. Pragmatic, populist leaders exploited ‘the people’ as a political rhetorical tool to gain power without touching the agricultural sector where ‘the people’ reside.

Mobilization of shared victimhood in the radical right populist Finns Party supporters’ identity work: A narrative–discursive approach to populist support

AbstractIn the 21st century, populist leaders have created and shaped narratives of threatened nations to foster a sense of shared victimhood and increase electoral appeal. However, an intriguing question has emerged: What roles do these outlined populist discourses of a threatened nation and shared victimhood play in the identity work of populist supporters? This study employs a narrative–discursive approach to analyse 25 in‐depth interviews with radical right populist Finns Party supporters. We investigate how the supporters construct and utilize populist discourses and narratives of lived experiences to legitimize their political support for the Finns Party. Furthermore, we illustrate how the related subject positions enable populist supporters to reproduce and enhance the populist discourse of ‘people's’ victimhood through the actions of ‘others’. This study contributes to the field by demonstrating how populist discourses and narratives of lived experiences can be mobilized into political support for the Finns Party.

Displays of anger in Turkish political discourse: a hard choice between cultural norms and political performance of anger

Abstract This paper examines the influence of cultural display rules on how high-status individuals, such as political leaders, publicly express anger. Specifically, it focuses on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been the Turkish leader since 2003. The study aims to understand the extent to which Erdoğan’s expression of anger is influenced by cultural display rules, the religious context stemming from his conservative electoral support, and his position as a long-term populist political leader. Using extended conceptual metaphor theory (ECMT) supported by corpus-assisted discourse analysis, the paper seeks to identify the contextual factors that shape anger expressions (both direct and metaphorical) in the political discourse of a populist leader in a collectivist culture. By comparing the conceptualization of ascribed anger and inscribed anger expressions, the analysis reveals that Erdoğan’s discourse presents two distinct scenarios for expressing anger toward ‘us’ and ‘others’. Additionally, it demonstrates how anger is strategically employed in culture-specific ways to navigate the challenges posed by conflicting contextual factors.

Populist Revolt from the Margins: The Ambiguous Case of Uma Bharati

ABTRACT Women are well-positioned to excel in populist leadership performances. Their displays of emotion appeal to gender stereotypes about female irrationality while challenging assumptions of female docility. Their expressions of gendered vulnerability and anger fuel majority victimization at supposed threats that people face from established elites, immigrants, minorities, and the ‘‘deep state.” However, populist parties have been inconsistent in supporting women’s exercise of power. This paper explores how, when, and why populist groups provide women leadership opportunities and encourage them to depart from conventional gender norms. It analyzes the trajectory of Uma Bharati, who played a key role in the ascent of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when it metamorphosed from a conventional to a populist party in the early 1990s. However, Bharati’s relationship with the BJP became tumultuous by 2004 and has become strained in recent years. What constellation of forces catapulted Bharati into and out of power and what does her complex trajectory tells us about the fate of subaltern women leaders in Hindu nationalist populist India? A key factor is the alignment and misalignment of her personal characteristics with India’s changing political environment.

We Got Our Guy!: Populist Attitudes after Populists Gain Power

Research on populist attitudes and populist leaders’ narratives has largely overlooked what happens to populist attitudes after a populist is elected, especially among the populist’s supporters. Existing literature points to two possible directions of change. On one hand, if populist attitudes stem from a perceived lack of representation, then we would expect people’s populist attitudes to decrease once their preferred candidate is in power. On the other hand, scholars have observed that populist politicians in power continue to deploy populist rhetoric, suggesting that their supporters’ populist attitudes should stay constant or even increase. In this project, the author focuses on Donald Trump and his supporters to explore this mechanism. Drawing on a national survey conducted around the 2016 and 2020 elections, the author shows that Trump’s supporters saw a significant decrease in populist attitudes after he came into power compared with both other American voters and other Republicans. The author also demonstrates that this decrease in populist attitudes is associated with changes in the level of “feeling represented.” On the basis of these findings, the author argues that populist attitudes are driven by feelings of lack of representation over other mechanisms.

Draining the Swamp? Populist Leadership and Corruption

Draining the Swamp? Populist Leadership and Corruption

Why Democracy Survives Populism

Abstract: This essay suggests that while populism certainly can be a mortal threat to democracy, the worst outcome is less common than observers have feared. The author's research shows that among forty populist governments in Latin America and Europe from 1985 to 2020, only seven led to authoritarian rule. It concludes that democracy often shows considerable resilience, with most populist leaders failing to suffocate liberal pluralism due to institutional checks, balances, and opposition mobilization. While the threat of populism requires constant attention and energetic countermeasures, there is no need for global alarmism.

The Russia-Ukraine war: unravelling the challenges to the liberal international order

With the diffusion of power in global affairs, a convergence of multiple threats began to intersect and challenge ‘the liberal international order’. On the one hand, the US, the sole hegemon, has been frequently abusing the rules and institutions of ‘the liberal international order’. Besides, ‘the post-Cold War US grand strategy of liberal internationalism’ has been under pressure from ‘the revisionist states such as Russia and China’ and the right-wing populist leaders in advanced Western democracies. On the other hand, the global society is witnessing the return of great power politics, imperial ambitions, and Moscow’s desire to gather Russians and re-establish a Russian sphere of influence in its neighbourhood by unleashing war against Ukraine. These geopolitical challenges aggravate the great powers’ competition, undermining the American dream of the universal liberal order. With the return of ‘the tragedy of great power politics’, the United States needs to maintain a strategy of coexistence rather than confrontation. Washington ought to prefer stability over democracy promotion, shore up its democratic alliance, and shred its imperial character such as NATO enlargement to preserve the rules of the liberal international order.

Hugo Chavez Period as a Case of Populist Leadership in Venezuela (1998–2013)

Hugo Chavez Period as a Case of Populist Leadership in Venezuela (1998–2013)

‘Warming up’ to populist leaders: A comparative analysis of Argentina and Spain

What makes populist leaders, responsible for many episodes of democratic backsliding, especially appealing to a significant part of the electorate? In the following pages we argue that the effect of perceptions regarding leaders’ ‘warmth’ causes them to be perceived as having good intentions toward and even being part of ‘the people,’ resulting in a more positive overall evaluation among citizens with more critical views of democratic representativeness (external political efficacy). We test this hypothesis in two very different political systems, Argentina and Spain, using data from original surveys that contain batteries of questions on warmth and competence trait dimensions for multiple leaders in both countries. The results show that while perceptions of traits along both warmth and competence dimensions are important for the evaluation of all leaders in democratic systems, the interactive effect between external political efficacy and perceptions of warmth is important for explaining more positive evaluations of populist leaders.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way: Border walls and refugees

Over the last decade, there has been a notable surge in the movement of refugees across international borders, posing significant challenges for the international community. In response, various policy measures have been implemented, including the construction of border walls, with the aim of impeding refugee influx. However, scholars have expressed doubts regarding the effectiveness of these fortifications, suggesting that walls merely redirect migrants to alternative routes, discourage return migration, or alter migrants’ cost–benefit calculations. Despite these concerns, there has been a lack of rigorous testing to support or refute these claims beyond case-specific evidence. This article addresses this research gap by thoroughly examining the arguments surrounding the impact of border fencing on refugee flows. We conduct a systematic, cross-national test of these arguments with a two-way fixed-effects estimator, an equivalence test, and a recently developed matching estimator designed for use on time-series cross-sectional data. Our results strongly support those who are skeptical of the impact of walls. We consistently demonstrate either that border fencing has not had any causal impact on refugee flows between 1970 and 2017 or that the statistical state-of-the-art is incapable of discerning that true effect. In either scenario, the evidence suggests that border fences fail to deliver the anticipated outcomes. These findings hold significant implications as violence-driven refugee flows persist, underscoring that while walls may serve as politically attractive tools for populist leaders, their actual deterrent effects are highly questionable at best.