Defending democracy requires more than just countering populism in general. It requires recognizing and addressing the authoritarian currents that run through some forms of populist politics.

Authors:

  • Dr. Andrea Wagner | Associate Professor, Political Science, MacEwan University
  • Anna Brigevich | Associate Professor of European Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Excerpt:

The rise of populist leaders has drawn significant attention over the past two decades. Around the world, they have reshaped politics, from Donald Trump in the United States to Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Marine Le Pen in France, Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Santiago Abascal in Spain and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

These leaders often rise to power by promising to speak for “the people” against the established “corrupt elites.” But our recent research shows that not all populist voters want the same things.

Our study examined public opinion data from nine countries to better understand what drives support for “strongman” populist leaders. The findings reveal that there are two very different kinds of populist attitudes, and the authoritarian variety most strongly predicts whether people will support a leader who is willing to bend the rules.

The article is short, and worth a read if you are curious about the results of the study or which country fell into which category. I started copying in more excerpts into this post and ended up copying 90% of the article.