Mapping Populism: Definitions, Cases, and Challenges to Democracy

Executive Summary

Populist ideology, political parties, leaders, and discourse are on the rise across the globe, from the Americas to Europe and from the Middle East to East Asia. Despite its growing prominence, there is still no universally accepted definition or method for measuring populism. The concept takes on different meanings depending on geographical settings, historical contexts, and ideological traditions. For example, left-wing populism in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez differed significantly from right-wing populism in Hungary under Viktor Orbán.

Recent political developments illustrate the global expansion of populism. In 2016, the United Kingdom voted in favor of Brexit, Donald Trump became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in the United States, and the Alternative für Deutschland achieved significant success in regional elections in Germany. At the same time, the growing popularity of leaders such as Narendra Modi, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Vladimir Putin further reflected this global trend. Across Europe, populist parties also gained momentum, with Syriza winning the Greek general elections in 2015 and Podemos substantially increasing its vote share in Spain during the same year.

Although existing studies provide valuable insights into populism, they differ considerably because of the absence of a clear and operational definition. Questions such as what populism is, how it should be measured, how it relates to concepts including democracy, globalization, neoliberalism, and majoritarianism, who can be considered a populist, and whether populism is a phenomenon to be addressed formed the basis of the roundtable discussion summarized in this report. The report presents a theoretical overview of these issues, supported by empirical examples from different parts of the world, and concludes with suggestions for future research.