Populism as a Political Strategy: An Approach’s Enduring — and Increasing — Advantages

2021/03/31 by Kurt Weyland · 122 citations
Social Sciences · #Democracy #Ideology #Law #Political Conflict and Governance #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Politics and Society in Latin America #Populism #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1177/00323217211002669

published in Political Studies 69(2), 185-189 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2021/03/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/17

Abstract

Responding to Rueda’s questions, this essay explains the political-strategic approach (PSA) to populism and highlights its analytical strengths, which have become even more important with the emergence of populist governments across the world. PSA identifies populism’s core by emphasizing the central role of personalistic leaders who tend to operate in opportunistic ways, rather than consistently pursuing programmatic or ideological orientations. PSA is especially useful nowadays, when scholars’ most urgent task is to elucidate the political strategies of populist chief executives and their problematic repercussions, especially populism’s threat to democracy.

Citations

• On the Concept of Populism: Populist and Clientelist Modes of Incorporation in Semiperipheral Polities
• Neoliberal Populism in Latin America and Eastern Europe

Cited by

• Regressive ‘alternative’ media and their role in disrupting the public spheres in Europe and Latin America
• The Big Role of Small Groups: A Research Agenda
• The Landscape of Populist Content and Style on Facebook during Taiwan's 2020 Election: Examining Their Manifestations, Communication Mechanisms, Inter-Party Differences, and Linkages to Electoral Agenda-Setting
• It’s the party system that matters: anti-populism in Argentina’s Cambiemos coalition (2015–2017)
• The Impact of Politicians’ Populist Performance on Perceived Political Authenticity
• Foreign Policy Counter-Elite and Durability of Populist Foreign Policy
• Populist securitization of migration: The anti-immigrant Zafer Party example in Türkiye
• After the "honeymoon", what is next? COVID-19 policies in Europe beyond the first wave. [europepmc]

Related

• Populism: A Very Short Introduction
• The Oxford Handbook of Populism
• Governing the Subject of Populism
• Populism: a major threat to democracy?
• Populism and Democracy on the Individual Level: Building on, Yet Moving Beyond the Supply Side