A Populist Moment?

Summary:

In public discourse, populism is a capricious and ambiguous term. Politicians, parties and voters are frequently referred to as populists, rightwing populists or left-wing populists. Since the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, some commentators have spoken of a new “age of populism.” A populist future is predicted even for the liberal representative democracies of the West. Populism seems to have become the defining trait of democracy in the 21st century. But what is populism? How can it be defined and empirically measured? How populist are the Germans? And what role does populism play in the election campaign and for vote choice in the 2017 federal election year?

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