Is Populism a Political Strategy? A Critique of an Enduring Approach

The political-strategic approach is one of the most employed frameworks within the methodologically heterogeneous subfield of populism studies. In the last two decades, it has contributed to the analysis of populism both in Latin America and the United States and, more recently, in Western and Easte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political studies 2021-05, Vol.69 (2), p.167-184
Main Author: Rueda, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Centrism
Concept formation
Populism
Rationalism
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Summary:The political-strategic approach is one of the most employed frameworks within the methodologically heterogeneous subfield of populism studies. In the last two decades, it has contributed to the analysis of populism both in Latin America and the United States and, more recently, in Western and Eastern Europe. That being said, a close inspection of its axioms and its conceptualization of the phenomenon shows that it is built on ill-conceived premises. This article intends to be a comprehensive critique of the approach that can contribute to the methodological progress of the field. It criticizes the three main dysfunctions of the approach: selective rationalism, leader-centrism, and normative bias.
ISSN:0032-3217
1467-9248
DOI:10.1177/0032321720962355