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Populism

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Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common person's interests are oppressed or hindered by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the state need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. Hence a populist is one who is perceived to craft his or her rhetoric as appeals to the economic, social, and common sense concerns of average people. Most scholarship on populism since 1980 has discussed it as a rhetorical style that can be used to promote a variety of political ideologies. Leaders of populist movements in recent decades have been both on the Left and Right (Canovan, Kazin, Betz).

The opposite of populism is elitism.

Leaders of populist movements have variously promised to stand up to corporate power, remove "corrupt" elites, and "put people first." Populism incorporates anti-regime politics, and sometimes espouses, especially among the right wing varieties, nationalism, jingoism, racism or religious fundamentalism (Canovan, Kazin, Betz). Many populists appeal to a specific region of a country or to a specific social class, such as the working class, middle class, or farmers. Often they employ dichotomous rhetoric, and claim to represent the majority of the people. 



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Populist methods

Populism is characterized by a sometimes radical critique of the status quo, but on the whole does not have a strong political identity as either a left-wing or right-wing movement. Populism has taken left-wing, right-wing, and even centrist forms. In recent years, conservative United States politicians have begun adopting populist rhetoric; for example, telling people to stand up to "the powerful trial lawyer lobby", "the liberal elite", or "the Hollywood elite". Also in recent years, "left-wing" United States politicians have increasingly begun adopting populist rhetoric; for example, by contrast, the American liberal may tend to rail against large corporations, claiming that business conglomerates put profits ahead of ordinary people and bend the process of government to meet their corporate needs.  The use of the term "two Americas" in the 2004 Presidential Democratic Party campaign of John Edwards is an example of an attempt to employ Populist themes to persuade voters.


Populists are seen by some politicians as a largely democratic and positive force in society, even while a wing of scholarship in political science contends that populist mass movements are irrational and introduce instability into the political process. Margaret Canovan argues that both these polar views are faulty, and has defined two main branches of modern populism worldwide — agrarian and political — and mapped out seven disparate sub-categories.






History


Classical populism

The word populism is derived from the Latin word populus, which means people in English (in the sense of "nation," as in: "The Roman People (populus Romanus), not in the sense of "multiple individual persons" as in: "There are people visiting us today"). Therefore, populism espouses government by the people as a whole (that is to say, the masses). This is in contrast to elitism, aristocracy, or plutocracy, each of which is an ideology that espouse government by a small, privileged group above the masses.


Populism has been a common political phenomenon throughout history. Spartacus could be considered a famous example of a populist leader of ancient times through his slave rebellion against the rulers of Ancient Rome. In fact, such leaders of the Roman Republic as Gaius Marius, Julius Caesar, and Caesar Augustus would all fall into the populist category, as all used referenda to go over the Roman Senate's head and establish the laws that they saw fit.



Early modern period

The same conditions which contributed to the outbreak of the English Revolution of 1642-1651, also known as the English Civil War, also led to a proliferation of ideologies and political movements among peasants, self-employed artisans, and working class people in England. Many, possibly most, of these groups had a dogmatic Protestant religious bent. They included Puritans, the Levellers, and the latter's more radical offshoot, The Diggers.






Religious revival

Romanticism, the anxiety against rationalism, broadened after the beginnings of the European and Industrial Revolutions because of cultural, social, and political insecurity. Romanticism led directly into a strong popular desire to bring about religious revival, nationalism and populism. The ensuing religious revival eventually blended into political populism and nationalism, becoming at times a single entity, and a powerful force of public will for change. The paradigm shift brought about was marked by people looking for security and community because of a strong emotional need to escape from anxiety and to believe in something larger than themselves.


The revival of religiosity all over Europe played an important role in bringing people to populism and nationalism. 


All of these were united by a search for something to believe in, divine certainties in an increasingly uncertain age.



Rejection of ultramontanism

Chateaubriand's beginning brought about two Catholic Revivals in France: first, a conservative revival led by Joseph de Maistre, which defended ultramontanism, also known as the supremacy of the Pope in the church, and a second populist revival led by Felicite de Lamennais, an excommunicated priest. This religious populism opposed ultramontanism and emphasized a church community dependent upon all of the people, not just the elite. Furthermore, it stressed that church authority should come from the bottom-up and that the church should alleviate suffering, not merely accept it, both principles that gave the masses strength.



Elitist nationalism

Nationalism turned in the second half of the 19th century and the nationalist sentiment was altered into an elitist and conservative doctrine. 


Power-state theorist and multi-volume historian Heinrich von Treitschke's Politics talked about top-down nationalism in which the state is the creator of the nation, not a result thereof. His state's power fashions political unity because, as he asserts, the national unity was always in place. For von Treitschke, the state is artificially constructed by the elite who know that power counts, but who also form myths such as racism for the comfort and control of the nationalistic masses. 


Von Treitschke's nationalism had a dark side.  The eternal struggle of nations exposed the weakness of confederated states, via war as social hygiene, culminating in the thought that all nations are egoistic, but their struggles embody morality and embrace progress. Such notions would later be proliferated in the tenets of National Socialism, with strong "races" and states dutifully conquering, and even exterminating, the weak.



Populism in the Americas

Populism has been a strong component of North American and Latin American political history. In Latin America, many charismatic leaders have emerged, such as; Carlos Ibáñez del Campo,  Getúlio Vargas, Lázaro Cárdenas, and Juan Perón; the  United States saw the formation of such political parties during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the Populist Party, the Greenback Party, the Single Tax movement of Henry George, the Progressive Party, the Farmer-Labor Party, the Share Our Wealth movement of Huey Long, and the Union Party. Some early left-wing populist parties directly fed into the later emergence of the socialist movement, while other populists have taken on a more right-wing character, such as Father Charles Coughlin and Gerald L. K. Smith. 


Populism continues to be a force in modern US politics. The 1992 and 1996 third-party presidential campaigns of Ross Perot, Jerry Brown's campaign in the 1992 Democratic primary, Jesse Ventura's 1998 campaign for the governorship of Minnesota, and the 1996, 2000 and the 2004 presidential campaigns of Ralph Nader, as well as the 2000  campaign of George W. Bush are all widely seen as modern manifestations of the populist phenomenon. The 2004 campaigns of Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton also had populist elements. Comparison between earlier surges of Populism and those of today are complicated by shifts in what are thought to be the interests of the common people. Jonah Goldberg and others argue that in modern society, fractured as it is into myriad interest groups and microgroups, any attempt to define the interests of the "average person" will be so general as to be useless. 


Over time, there have been several versions of a Populist Party in the United States, inspired by the People's Party of the 1890s. This was the party of the early U.S. populist movement in which millions of farmers and other working people successfully challenged much of the social ills engendered by the "Gilded Age" monopolists. 


In 1984, the Populist Party name was revived by Willis Carto, and was used in 1988 as a vehicle for the presidential campaign of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Right-wing Patriot movement organizer Bo Gritz was briefly Duke's running mate. This incarnation was widely regarded as a vehicle for white supremacist recruitment.


In 1995, the Reform Party was organized after the populist presidential campaign of Ross Perot in 1992. After a disputed takeover of the party in 2000, Patrick J. Buchanan received the party's nomination for president.


In the 2000s, many smaller populist parties were formed in America, including the Populist Party of America in 2002, and the American Populist Renaissance in 2005. The American Moderation Party, also formed in 2005, adopted several populist ideals, chief among them working against multinational neo-corporatism.


Conservatives such as Jonah Goldberg are skeptical of populism, as evidenced in the title of his article in National Review: "Pick Up Your Own Crap: 
The crazy denunciations and demands of populist forces must be put down by conservatives."[link]



Populism in Germany



Populism in France

In France, the populist and nationalist picture was more mystical and metaphysical in nature.


Populism in the Philippines

Populist political figures or groups in the Philippines tend to further conflict between the masa (masses) and the so-called "elite". Populist forces take advantage of the fact that most of the country's population is poor, uneducated, and easily charmed by rhetoric. Populist groups further the notion that it is good to be poor, and that the rich are undeserving and should give to the poor, and that is perfectly appropriate to steal from the rich, as when power lines are illegally connected to squatter shanties.



Current or recent populists

Examples of populists in the contemporary era include:

Not all politicians who adopt a populist campaign are true populists. Some politicians adopting the rhetoric and language of populism are criticized for using populist rhetoric merely as an organizing tactic without any actual intent of standing up for common people. And not all politicians who are labeled 'populists' are populists, or consider themselves to be populist. The term is often used as a straw man fallacy, misrepresenting an opponent's position.



See also


This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. Other related articles can be found at the .




External links



References


General



Europe



United States





Populism could be used to describe Popular culture and Popular science.
Also see Populist Party.




























 





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