What the (Ideational) Study of Populism Can Teach Us, and What It Can't

Abstract

In their hasty response to the recent wave of populist victories, many analysts have ignored previous scholarship on populism. In contrast, contributors to this special issue draw from well-tested approaches to populism that allow them to build on previous work, especially work based on an ideational approach. In doing so, they highlight at least three things that a more scientific approach to populism can teach us. First, populism is not a new phenomenon, nor is the current wave necessarily stronger than previous ones; second, populist ideas exist at the level of individual voters and matter for political behavior; and third, populism has both positive and negative consequences for democracy. At the same time, contributions to this special issue allow us to highlight at least three limitations of the current ideational approach: it fails to comprehend other political ideas clearly and how they interact with populism; it lacks a theory about different modes of political organization pursued by populist forces; and it inadequately theorizes about the impact of populist forces on party systems.