The history of populism: A review of the populist explosion by John B. Judis.

• Author: Ahuja, Ragini
• Position: Book review

The first thing that strikes you about The Populist Explosion is its obvious relevance today given the contemporary rise of rightwing populism globally (1) John B. Judis explores the historical curve of American and European politics from the Great Depression to the global recession in 2009, but also goes a step further and delineates how the prevailing global sentiment is cultivating rightwing populism.

Judis begins by attempting to define populism and declares at the outset that there is no set of features that is exclusive to populism. What's interesting is that, according to Judis, American and European populism cannot be defined within the narrow constraints of traditional ideological positions such as right, left, or center. Instead, American and European populist parties operate less on an ideology and more on a "political logic" they can cast on and off depending on the context and the moment. This thesis makes sense when Judis examines leftwing populism not as a force whose ultimate aim is to overthrow the capitalist structure, but rather to work within it.

For Judis, the central aspect of a populist movement is a friction between "the people" and "the elite" in the case of leftwing populism, and between the people, the elite, and a third group allegedly fostered by the elite, such as immigrants, in the case of rightwing populism.

Judis traces the rise of American populism through key moments, including its inception with the People's Party in the 1890s, its resurgence in the wake of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the rightwing populism of George Wallace in the 1960s, the leftwing and rightwing populism of Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan respectively in the 1990s, and the years leading up to the 2016 presidential campaign. The common thread among these populist movements--whether right-wing or leftwing--was the failure of prevailing political parties to be cognizant of rising public concerns beyond...