POPULISM TARGETS ELITES AND MINORITIES

Populism, literally, means speaking for the people. In practice it often means demagoguery.

A charismatic leader will say something simple and catchy that makes voters think the leader will actually do something decisive to make their lives better and solve all their problems.

Populism is also a disruptive style of politics. It relies on exacerbating the animosity between a supposedly “pure” people led by a “strong” leader and a privileged, out-of-touch elite or establishment.

Populist messages tend to be simple slogans. Typically they offer the possibility of a golden future for a nation if only the populist leader can be allowed free rein. That means populist leaders and parties generally send very negative messages about democratic institutions.

Everything in the present is corrupt and terrible, whereas the past was in some way glorious, and the future can also be glorious if only the leader is given unfettered power.

In Britain, the populist party Ukip, wants to “take our country back” by leaving the European Union and rejecting “the elites” who run it. For Donald Trump the slogan is to “Make America Great Again”, although when exactly America ceased to be great is not entirely clear.

Other populists speak nostalgically of a time when their nation was not sullied by immigrants.

Another characteristic of populist leaders is to define the people as “the real people” or the “ordinary people,” and to demonise elites or foreigners as the problem. Liberals, intellectuals, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, Mexicans, people of colour and others have all been demonised in this way.

It is worth noting that one other characteristic of populist leaders is that they create new elites, sometimes from their families and cronies. And for all their compelling speeches, improving the lives of the people in practice is far more complicated than a simple slogan.

Populist criticism is easy. Governing is hard.