— 2nd edition out in 2025 —
Populism has fundamentally altered many aspects of world politics. As President Donald J. Trump’s recent threats to U.S. allies and his imposition of wide-ranging tariffs have made all too clear, “populist” leaders can have a major impact not just on domestic but also foreign policy. Written by leading experts in the field, the chapters in this volume explore the many ways populism and world politics intersect, including the importance of populist leadership and global media as well as populism’s impact on trade and the liberal international order. The first edition of Populism and Word Politics was the first book-length treatment of populism from an International Relations (IR) perspective. The second edition reflects the continuation and evolution of populism in world politics, and includes a new introduction, updated chapters and an additional contribution on populist security narratives.
REVIEWS
“This volume fills a vital gap in existing literature related to populism.”
Syed Tahseen Raza in Populism: Newsletter of the Populism Specialist Group, Political Studies Association
CONTENTS
Frank A. Stengel, David B. MacDonald, and Dirk Nabers
Introduction: Analyzing the Nexus Between Populism and International Relations
Although populism has been a prominent topic in the social sciences, until very recently little attention has been paid to its inter- and transnational dimensions. While populism researchers have mainly focused on theoretical and methodological issues, or studied individual cases (whether in single case studies or in a comparative fashion), International Relations scholars have until recently largely ignored the phenomenon. At the latest with the return of Donald J. Trump to the US presidency, the need for research on the nexus between populism and world politics has become a pressing issue. This introduction (1) provides a critical overview of the burgeoning IR literature on populism, (2) makes the case for a more systematic engagement between the IR and populism research outside the discipline, (3) provides an overview of the chapters of the volume and situates their individual contributions within the larger framework of the populism-world politics nexus.
Populism, foreign policy, world politics, world order, LIO, far right
Jan Zeemann
Populism Beyond the Nation
This chapter critically analyzes diverse conceptualizations of populism, challenging the prevailing assumption that populism necessitates a national framework. Examining various approaches—strategic, discursive, stylistic, and ideological—the work demonstrates how traditional populism scholarship implicitly or explicitly naturalizes the nation-state as its reference frame. Drawing primarily on Ernesto Laclau’s theoretical framework, the chapter advances an understanding of populism as a political logic wherein “the people” emerge through equivalential chains of unfulfilled demands rather than through pre-existing national identities. This theoretical reframing opens possibilities for conceptualizing populism beyond national boundaries. The chapter proposes a typology distinguishing between national, transnational, and global populisms, arguing that emancipatory populist movements can potentially transcend national borders to address global challenges. Through rigorous examination of populism’s ontological foundations, this analysis provides theoretical groundwork for understanding contemporary political movements that operate across traditional geopolitical divisions, offering an alternative to the predominant focus on exclusionary national populisms.
Populism; Nation; Discourse Theory; Poststructuralism; Political Theory; Social Movements
María Esperanza Casullo
How to Become a Leader: Identifying Global Repertoires for Populist Leadership
The goal of this chapter is to offer a set of mid-range concepts that revolve around the notion of populist repertoires. Repertoires mediate between structure and agency and thus facilitate populists ascension to power given certain social and political settings. Repertoires are defined as socially-shared discursive templates that define legitimate or accepted ways for populist leaders to act, talk, dress and that indicate what life-stories are more suitable for a politician. Repertories are socially defined and circulated but they are not totally fixed: a male, white middle class lawyer has the a priori advantage of conforming to a repertoire that states what a “regular” politician looks like–however, there can be other repertoires available or in competition at a given time. If the context changes (for example in times of crisis) to look like a “regular politician” might become a disadvantage. The thesis of the piece is that repertoires exist to act as possible paths to leadership which are resonant with social groups at given times and places and that they can be used by individuals to present themselves as prospective leaders. The ability of the individual to perceive and utilize these repertories is individuals; the repertoires themselves are social.
populist leadership; populists repertoires; political performance; populist discourse; populist imitation; political agency, charismatic leadership
Precious N. Chatterje-Doody and Rhys Crilley
Populism and Contemporary Global Media: Populist Communication Logics and the Co-construction of Transnational Identities
The study of populism increasingly recognises how important the online environment is for the spread of populist messaging, but engages relatively weakly with how the creation, dissemination and interactivity of content across sites, platforms and networks impacts upon the very nature and characteristics of contemporary populism. This chapter argues that the development and integration of new media technologies is more than an evolution in how populist messages are disseminated. Rather, even in non-democratic systems, media actors, platforms and audiences all influence messaging, whether via conscious agency, market considerations or algorithmic affordances. This makes contemporary populist appeals subject to transnational processes of devolved co-production and dissemination amongst both core and peripheral audiences. Media actors contribute to a multifaceted and co-constitutive relationship which fundamentally influences how core messages and identities are produced. The chapter demonstrates these processes in action through three empirical case studies of transnational populist communication logics amongst a range of actors, in which normatively-driven distinctions between ‘people’ and ‘elite’ are transnationally co-produced and circulated via multiple platforms. A range of informal and affective techniques are observed, which are calibrated to emotively involve core audiences, whilst influencing wider transnational discourses.
affect; emotion; news media; populism; populist communication; Russia; Syria; transnational populism
Georg Löfflmann
Studying Populist Security Narratives: An Analytical Framework
This chapter advances the study of populism and ontological security in International Relations by linking the critical analysis of identity performing discourses and security narratives to emotive appeals and psychological effects aimed at specific target audiences and their underlying cultural attitudes, social orientation, and political values. The chapter introduces the key concepts of ontological security, blame attribution, emotionalization, and collective narcissism and integrates them for the study of populist framing and security narratives. The aim of this approach is to examine the psychological and affective modes of political persuasion in populist rhetoric, and how blame attribution, appeals to collective narcissism, and an affective repertoire of fear, anxiety, humiliation, resentment and nostalgia are employed for the purposes of voter mobilization and the legitimation of policy.
ontological security; affect; emotion; Donald J. Trump; populism; anxiety; humiliation
Dirk Nabers and Frank A. Stengel
Sedimented Practices and American Identity in Donald J. Trump’s Election Campaign
This chapter makes the case for increased attention to the discourse theoretical notion of sedimented practices in populism research and International Relations (IR). Sedimented practices circumscribe the domain of credibility and intelligibility of a society’s socio-economic setting. In contrast to previous studies in both populism research and IR that stress US President Donald J. Trump’s radical break with traditional foreign policy during both his first and second term, a focus on sedimented practices shifts our attention to the need for any successful project to resonate with established discursive patterns to gain credibility. We illustrate the theoretical argument drawing on examples from Trump’s campaign statements on foreign policy since 2015. We argue that the notion of sedimented practices helps tease out how even Trump’s foreign policy vision draws on deeply established traditions of US foreign policy for legitimacy.
Populism, American foreign policy, Donald J. Trump, discourse theory, sedimented practices, change, exceptionalism, legitimacy, far right
Brian Budd
The Populist Radical Right Goes Canadian: An Analysis of Kellie Leitch’s Failed 2016–2017 Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Campaign
A new wave of populist leaders, parties, and movements have emerged across establish Western democracies. These leaders have received considerable support while challenging the socio-political status quo at both national and global levels of governance. While largely a spectator to the rise of some of the more notable populist leaders, Canada has not been immune to the current global populist zeitgeist. Notably, the campaign of 2017 Conservative Leadership candidate Kellie Leitch relied heavily on a populist discourse and policy agenda. Leitch’s campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, as her rhetoric and policies were widely condemned among members of her own party and the Canadian public. This chapter examines why Leitch’s populist campaign failed to resonate with and appeal to Conservatives. Using Moffitt’s (2016) theoretical framework that conceptualizes populism as a distinct political style that is performed, embodied, and enacted across different political and cultural contexts, I argue that the failure of Leitch’s campaign is due largely to her inability to convincingly perform core tenets of a populist style of politics in a manner that resonated within the social and cultural milieu of Canada. Leitch’s campaign also demonstrates the difficulties facing female leaders intending to practice populism due to the inherent masculinity of the populist style.
Populist Ideology; Gender; Canadian Politics; Performativity; Political Leadership; Conservativism; Global Populism
Grant Alan Burrier
Populists and Foreign Policy: Evidence from Latin America
Populists enact dramatic change, does this penchant extend to foreign policy? While the literature assumes increasing nationalism and protectionism, few studies directly test whether populists produce tangibly different foreign policies. I analyze defense and trade policy to ascertain the substantive consequences of populist presidencies, using an innovative longitudinal cohort study (LCS) from contemporary Latin America. After discussing three populist waves (classical, neo-populist, and Bolivarian), I compare neo- and Bolivarian populists with their non-populist counterparts. The quasi-experimental research design includes six cases that are broadly representative of Latin America: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, splitting countries into cohorts of similar economic and social development. Among cohorts, there is a control group and a treatment group, permitting comparison among non-populists and populists. While I find little evidence of divergent military policies, populists occupy economic extremes of the policy spectrum, particularly when compared with non-populists. Policy variation among populists reflects the structural position of their country in the international economic system. In more developed countries, populists from both the left- and right-wing are more likely to reduce trade openness and erect tariffs. In less developed, smaller countries, the opposite occurs as populists embrace international trade and lower tariffs.
populism, foreign policy, protectionism, Latin America, longitudinal cohort study
Daniel F. Wajner
Making (Latin) America Great Again: Lessons from Populist Foreign Policies in the Americas
Contemporary politics is increasingly marked by the rise of global populism. Within this challenging context, lessons drawn from past experiences with populism –in which Latin America and Latin-Americanists have prominence— can provide a satisfactory response to many pressing questions concerning the foreign policies of today’s populist leaderships. This chapter explores possible patterns in the foreign policies formulations of Latin-American populist governments across three key periods: “classic populism” (1930s–ִ1950s), “neoliberal neopopulism” (1980s–1990s), and “progressive neopopulism” (2000s–2020s). In recent years, a “fourth” wave of populism has gained increasing traction in the region. The Latin American experience offers a multi-dimensional case study for analyzing different populist eras within the same region and comparing, with notable variance across time and space, how populist governments have shaped their policies at regional, sub-regional, interregional, and global levels. The findings of this comparative study suggest that defining a coherent populist foreign policy in Latin America based on ideological or programmatic content is difficult. However, a clear pattern emerges: Latin American populists increasingly favor regional and global policies that bolster identity-based solidarities, thereby legitimizing their leadership both domestically and internationally. This chapter aims to contribute to a growing research program on populism and foreign policy in International Relations.
Populism; Populist foreign policy; Latin-American populism; Latin-American politics; foreign policy analysis; regional legitimation.
David B. MacDonald
Between Populism and Pluralism: Winston Peters and the International Relations of New Zealand First
Aotearoa New Zealand is a small but wealthy country, geographically isolated in the south Pacific, yet strongly interlinked economically, culturally, and militarily to other western settler states as well as to Western Europe. NZ may therefore seem an unlikely host for an electorally successful populist party, known for its disdain of identity politics and “wokeness”, its anti-elitism and its dog whistle politics against ethnic and religious minority communities, and more recently, Indigenous Māori. Yet New Zealand First (NZF) has played an important role in the electoral system since 1993, routinely taking a key role in coalition governments. The example of NZF problematizes the relationship between populism and democracy as it is often articulated in populism literature. Jan-Werner Müller in particular has argued that populism is by its nature opposed to pluralism. Yet, electorally successful populist parties can demonstrate their longevity by tactically embodying elements of both populism and pluralism. This chapter is substantially changed since its previous incarnation, as NZF is now in coalition with two other right of centre parties, which has resulted in a repositioning and re-presentation of many of their views and policies.
Populism, Pluralism, New Zealand First, foreign policy, Winston Peters
Thorsten Wojczewski
Conceptualizing the Links Between Populism, Nationalism and Foreign Policy: How Modi Constructed a Nationalist, Anti-establishment Electoral Coalition in India
Drawing on a poststructuralist, discourse theoretical framework, the chapter analyses the interplay of Hindu nationalism, populism and foreign policy in the 2014 election campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader Narendra Modi. The chapter understands nationalism, populism and foreign policy as discourses that construct collective identities by drawing distinct political boundaries between Self and Other. It shows that Modi’s BJP has shaped a discursive project that constructs ‘the people’ as both disenfranchised ethnos and demos by pitting it against the ‘corrupt’ establishment that is accused of siding with and appeasing the ‘foreign’ Other. In this context, the chapter also discusses the ideological dimension of nationalism and populism and illuminates how such discourses drive the identification with particular political projects by masking over the discursive character of what we view as social reality and the resulting impossibility of a fully constituted subject such as ‘the people’.
Populism; Nationalism; Foreign Policy; Identity; Poststructuralist Discourse Theory
Robert G. Patman
The Liberal International Order and Its Populist Radical Right Adversaries in Russia, UK and USA
This chapter explores the upsurge of Populist Radical Right (PRR) challenges to the liberal international order during the last decade. After conceptualizing the liberal international order, the chapter considers the impact of an external challenge from the Putin regime in Moscow; thethreats within this order following the Brexit referendum in the UK and the election victory of Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ Republican party in 2016; and the apparent convergence of these internal and external threats. Such challenges indicate that the current PPR wave is symptomatic of deeper structural shifts in the evolution of the liberal order since the 1980s and unless the underlying causes – the downsides of globalization – are directly addressed within liberal democratic political systems the PRR resurgence is unlikely to fade anytime soon.
Liberal Order, Populism, Putin, Brexit, Trump, globalization, anti-establishment, nationalism, world order
Shane Markowitz
The Global Rise of Populism as a Socio-material Phenomenon: Matter, Discourse, and Genetically Modified Organisms in the European Union
Among the most influential perspectives examining populism are discursive and ideological approaches. The recent “material turn” though has put to challenge many of the conventions of social science scholarship, highlighting the vibrant and agentive capacities of material things. Employing Karen Barad’s agential realism perspective premised on the notion of phenomena as constituted by the entanglements between matter and discourse and facilitated by interview fieldwork, this chapter interrogates the global rise of populism as a socio-materially constituted process, specifically examining the case of plant biotechnology in the European Union. Farmer mobilization patterns and the nuances therein – rejection of GMOs in food but tolerance toward GM animal feed – are argued to have not simply emerged from social contestation, but rather to have been contingent phenomena constituted socio-materially through the relations between pollen, soybeans, and landscapes and different practices, including production and consumption patterns, regulatory frameworks, and food retailer branding moves, within and across conventionally conceived political borders. The broader intelligibility gained is that certain policy prescriptions, deemed populist (or not), emerge out of decision-making landscapes that materialize socio-materially through complex relations between local and global with implications on the types of political interventions that can be introduced to improve the world.
Populism, biotechnology, agriculture, environment, new materialism, constructivism, European Union
Amy Skonieczny and Kayla N. Carlson
Populism and Trade: The 2016 US Presidential Election and the Death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
This chapter examines the rise of populism in U.S. trade politics, particularly through the lens of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its implications for American leadership in global trade. It discusses how the 2016 presidential election catalyzed a shift from pro-globalization narratives to populist rhetoric that framed trade agreements as detrimental to American workers. The authors analyze the contrasting narratives of President Obama, who advocated for the TPP as a means to counter China’s influence and promote economic growth, against those of candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, who positioned themselves as champions of the working class against elite interests. The chapter highlights the consequences of this populist turn, including the failure of the TPP and the establishment of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) without U.S. participation, ultimately signaling a significant loss of U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific region and a lasting impact on trade policy.
Populism; Trade Politics; Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP); Economic Nationalism; Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); Protectionism; Globalization
Frank A. Stengel, David B. MacDonald, and Dirk Nabers
Conclusion: Populism, Foreign Policy, and World Politics
The conclusion draws together the different arguments of the individual chapters and provides a preliminary agenda for further research on populism and world politics. Specifically, it proposes a three-step model for the analysis of populists’ impact on foreign policy and international politics, consisting of (1) populists’ specific ideologies and foreign policy positions, (2) domestic opportunity structures and (3) the international context. In contrast to widespread claims that populism per se is a danger to world order, democracy or “the West,” we argue that a systematic and careful analysis that differentiates between different populisms is a necessary precondition for any meaningful assessment in regard to their impact. Moreover, the latter not just depends on populists’ foreign policy demands but also on whether populists are in government or exerting pressure from the outside as well as the extent to which they can act in an unconstrained fashion, both in terms of domestic veto players and international context. Any worthwhile analysis of populism’s effect on foreign policy, international cooperation and conflict or regional and world order(s) has to move beyond the still all-too-common mistake to treat populism as a monolith and to ignore both domestic and international contexts.
Populism, foreign policy, domestic structures, world order