Populism in power: political consequences

Abstract

The populism phenomenon has become a mainstraim political research topic at the beginning of the 21st century. Scholars have focused on different aspects of this phenomenon. In the peer-reviewed monograph “Populism in power. Strategies and Consequences of a Populist Stay” (Wiesbaden, 2021) the author analyzes the results of a populist government in a geographical area. It is argued that populism in power has the following characteristics: charismatic leadership, public political opposition, networking and shutdown of patronage institutions that stand between populist status and the so-called “true people”, paving the way for the autocratization of assemblies. The author shows the peculiar position of populist governments: how they come to power and what they do as a political elite to create their own legitimacy. Most of them act as the leaders of a permanent election campaign. The first step towards their new legitimacy is always the delegitimization of any opposition and this naturally opens the way to anti-pluralism.