Whereas populism is generally considered a modern phenomenon, and the term itself only appeared in the late nineteenth century, some scholars have attempted to identify earlier manifestations of populist politics. Populism has thus been retrospectively associated with the democracy of classical Athens, with the
Levellers of seventeenth-century England, who have sometimes been labelled “populists” because of their belief that equal natural rights should shape political life, and with movements such as the
Protestant Reformation.
Europe In the late 19th century Russian Empire, the
narodnichestvo movement emerged, championing the cause of the peasantry against governing elites. Although it failed to achieve its aims, it is widely regarded as the first populist movement and inspired the Russian revolutions as well as other agrarian movements across eastern Europe in the early 20th century. In German-speaking Europe, the
völkisch movement has often been characterised as populist due to its exaltation of the German people and anti-elitist attacks on capitalism and Jews. In France, the
Boulangist movement similarly employed populist rhetoric and themes. In post-war Europe, a number of right-wing populist parties emerged across the continent. These developments largely reflected a conservative agrarian backlash against the growing centralisation and politicisation of the agricultural sector. Examples include
Guglielmo Giannini's
Common Man's Front in 1940s Italy,
Pierre Poujade's
Union for the Defense of Tradesmen and Artisans in late 1950s France,
Hendrik Koekoek's
Farmers' Party in the Netherlands during the 1960s, and
Mogens Glistrup's
Progress Party in 1970s Denmark. Few of these actors explicitly identified themselves as populists, although the French far-right activist
François Duprat notably described the extreme right as “populist”. Following the
fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the
Eastern Bloc in the early 1990s, populism rose across much of Central and Eastern Europe. The Czech
Civic Forum party, for example, campaigned with the slogan "Parties are for party members, Civic Forum is for everybody". Many populists in the region argued that the transition to liberal democracy had failed to produce a "real" revolution and claimed to represent the forces seeking such change. At the turn of the 21st century, populist rhetoric and movements became increasingly visible in Western Europe. Such rhetoric was often employed by opposition parties and was again largely associated with the political right. The term came to refer both to
far right groups such as Jörg Haider's FPÖ in Austria and Jean-Marie Le Pen's FN in France, as well as
Silvio Berlusconi's in Italy and
Pim Fortuyn's LPF in the Netherlands. The populist radical right combined populism with authoritarianism and nativism. Explicit self-identification with the label has nevertheless remained relatively rare and often strategic, as the term is sometimes perceived as less stigmatizing than other ideological designations, as illustrated by
Marine Le Pen's statement that the label did not trouble her. Conversely, the
Great Recession contributed to the rise of left-wing populist movements in parts of Europe, most notably the
Syriza party in Greece and
Podemos in Spain. These actors often expressed
Euroscepticism, though largely from socialist and anti-austerity perspectives rather than the nationalist framing typical of the right. The UK
Labour Party under
Jeremy Corbyn has likewise been described as populist, while figures such as
Jean-Luc Mélenchon have acknowledged using political strategies sometimes characterised as populist, notably during a 2012 debate with
Chantal Mouffe and
Ernesto Laclau, even as he described the term “populism” as excessively loaded and problematic. Following the
2016 UK referendum on EU membership, in which British voters chose to leave the European Union, some commentators interpreted
Brexit as a victory for populism, prompting calls by populist parties in other
EU countries for similar referendums.
North America In North America, populism has often been characterised by regional mobilisation and loose organisation. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, populist sentiments became widespread, particularly in the western provinces of Canada, and in the southwest and Great Plains regions of the United States. In this instance, populism was combined with
agrarianism and often known as "prairie populism". For these groups, "the people" were yeomen—small, independent farmers—while the "elite" were the bankers and politicians of the northeast. In some cases, populist activists called for alliances with labor (the first national platform of the National People's Party in 1892 calling for protecting the rights of "urban workmen". In the state of Georgia in the early 1890s,
Thomas E. Watson led a major effort to unite poor white farmers, and included some African-American farmers. The
People's Party of the late 19th century United States is considered to be "one of the defining populist movements"; its members were often referred to as the Populists at the time. Its radical platform included calling for the nationalisation of railways, the banning of strikebreakers, and the introduction of referendums. The party gained representation in several state legislatures during the 1890s, but was not powerful enough to mount a successful presidential challenge. In the
1896 presidential election, the People's Party supported the
Democratic Party candidate
William Jennings Bryan; after his defeat, the People's Party's support plunged. Other early populist political parties in the United States included the
Greenback Party, the
Progressive Party of 1924 led by
Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and the
Share Our Wealth movement of
Huey P. Long in 1933–1935. In Canada, populist groups adhering to a
social credit ideology had various successes at local and regional elections from the 1930s to the 1960s, although the main
Social Credit Party of Canada never became a dominant national force. By the mid-20th century, US populism had moved from a largely
progressive to a largely
reactionary stance, being closely intertwined with the
anti-communist politics of the period. In this period, the historian
Richard Hofstadter and sociologist
Daniel Bell compared the anti-elitism of the 1890s Populists with that of
Joseph McCarthy. Although not all academics accepted the comparison between the left-wing, anti-
big business Populists and the right-wing, anti-communist McCarthyites, the term "populist" nonetheless came to be applied to both left-wing and right-wing groups that blamed elites for the problems facing the country. In the first decade of the 21st century, two populist movements appeared in the US, both in response to the
Great Recession: the
Occupy movement and the
Tea Party movement. The populist approach of the Occupy movement was broader, with its "people" being what it called "
the 99%", while the "elite" it challenged was presented as both the economic and political elites. The Tea Party's populism was
Producerism, while "the elite" it presented was more party partisan than that of Occupy, being defined largely—although not exclusively—as the Democratic administration of President
Barack Obama. The
2016 presidential election saw a wave of populist sentiment in the campaigns of
Bernie Sanders and
Donald Trump, with both candidates running on
anti-establishment platforms in the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Both campaigns criticised free trade deals such as the
North American Free Trade Agreement and the
Trans-Pacific Partnership but differed significantly on other issues, such as immigration. Other studies have noted an emergence of populist rhetoric and a decline in the value of prior experience in U.S. intra-party contests such as congressional primaries.
Nativism and hostility toward immigrants (especially Muslims, Hispanics and Asians) were common features.
Latin America Populism has been a recurring and influential feature of Latin American politics since the 1940s, often emerging in contexts marked by the expansion of mass politics and the entry of previously underrepresented social sectors into the political arena. Across the region, it has been associated with charismatic leadership in societies with weakly structured class systems, taking different ideological forms over time. The first wave of Latin American populism emerged in the post-war period and lasted until the 1960s. It was characterized by leaders who mobilized "the people" against oligarchic elites, such as
Getúlio Vargas in Brazil and
Juan Domingo Perón in Argentina. In Argentina, Peronism was consolidated through the mass mobilization of
17 October 1945 (the
Day of Loyalty), often considered its founding moment, notably involving previously marginalized sectors such as the
cabecitas negras. Early interpretations did not rely on the concept of populism: after Perón's overthrow in
1955,
Jorge Abelardo Ramos described Peronism as a form of
Bonapartism, while
Gino Germani conceptualized it as a "national-popular" movement linked to rapid modernization and the incorporation of the masses. In Brazil, the term "populism" entered political vocabulary in the same period, initially used by sectors of the authoritarian right as a political accusation against Vargas, reflecting their hostility to the growing political participation of the masses. It was subsequently partially reappropriated by figures such as
Ademar de Barros. Despite critical academic uses, the term remained largely non-pejorative until the
1964 coup. Labor-based populism continued under
João Goulart and
Leonel Brizola, while the right reached executive power by supporting the populist candidacy of
Jânio Quadros in
1960. The second wave developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Populist leaders such as
Carlos Menem in Argentina,
Fernando Collor de Mello in Brazil, and
Alberto Fujimori in Peru combined anti-elite rhetoric with the implementation of neoliberal reforms, often aligned with recommendations from the
International Monetary Fund. The third wave began in the late 1990s and extended into the 21st century, in the so-called
pink tide. It was characterized by left-wing populist governments emphasizing social inclusion, state intervention, and opposition to economic elites. Prominent examples include
Hugo Chávez in Venezuela,
Evo Morales in Bolivia, and
Rafael Correa in Ecuador, as well as
Néstor Kirchner and
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina. In Brazil, although the
Workers' Party initially emerged in opposition to earlier forms of populism, some scholars argue that the presidency of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva partially reactivated elements of the Vargas tradition, combining charismatic leadership, redistribution, and the incorporation of popular sectors, leading some analysts to describe Lulism as a democratizing form of left-wing populism. More recently, new forms of populism have emerged. The election of
Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil in
2018 has been interpreted as the resurgence of a far-right populism combining anti-elite discourse, moral conservatism, and hostility to institutional mediation,
Middle East and North Africa In North Africa, populism was associated with the approaches of several political leaders active in the 20th century. However, populist approaches only became more popular in the Middle East during the early 21st century, by which point it became integral to much of the region's politics. Although the
Arab Spring was not a populist movement itself, populist rhetoric was present among protesters. In
Israel, the accession of
Menachem Begin to power in 1977 is often considered by some scholars to be a key moment in the emergence of right-wing populism. His electoral base relied largely on social groups long relegated to the margins of Israeli society, particularly
Mizrahi Jews from the
Middle East and
North Africa. These populations experienced social and symbolic marginalization within a system historically dominated by
Ashkenazi elites. However, his political style is often interpreted as a shift toward a form of populism centered on criticism of political, judicial and media elites, combined with a more clearly liberal economic orientation.
Sub-Saharan Africa In much of Africa, populism has been a rare phenomenon. The political scientist Danielle Resnick argued that populism first became apparent in Africa during the 1980s, when a series of coups brought military leaders to power in various countries. In Ghana, for example,
Jerry Rawlings took control, professing that he would involve "the people" in "the decision-making process", something he claimed had previously been denied to them. A similar process took place in neighbouring Burkina Faso under the military leader
Thomas Sankara, who professed to "take power out of the hands of our national bourgeoisie and their imperialist allies and put it in the hands of the people". Such military leaders claimed to represent "the voice of the people", used an anti-establishment discourse, and established participatory organisations through which to maintain links with the broader population. In the 21st century, with the establishment of multi-party democratic systems in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, new populist politicians have appeared. These have included Kenya's
Raila Odinga, Senegal's
Abdoulaye Wade, South Africa's
Julius Malema, and Zambia's
Michael Sata. These populists have arisen in democratic rather than authoritarian states, and have arisen amid dissatisfaction with democratisation, socio-economic grievances, and frustration at the inability of opposition groups to oust incumbent parties.
Asia In southeast Asia, populist politicians emerged in the wake of the
1997 Asian financial crisis. In the region, various populist governments took power but were removed soon after: these include the administrations of
Joseph Estrada in the Philippines,
Roh Moo-hyun in South Korea,
Chen Shui-bian in Taiwan, and
Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand. In India, earlier forms of “caste populism” were characterized by the political mobilization of lower and intermediate castes, which sought to represent historically marginalized groups as the “people” against upper-caste elites and entrenched social hierarchies. From the late 20th century onwards, however, this configuration was gradually rearticulated with the rise of the
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which gained increasing power in the early 21st century under the leadership of
Narendra Modi and has been described as adopting a right-wing populist position. Under Modi, populist discourse shifted toward a Hindu majoritarian framework that enabled the construction of a unified religious “people” across caste divisions, while often subsuming persistent inequalities and allowing socially dominant groups to project their particular interests as the general will, frequently marginalizing subaltern and minority voices.
Oceania During the 1990s, there was a growth in populism in both Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand
Robert Muldoon, the
31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, had been cited as a populist. Populism has become a pervasive trend in
New Zealand politics since the introduction of the
mixed-member proportional voting system in 1996. The
New Zealand Labour Party's populist appeals in its
1999 election campaign and advertising helped to propel the party to victory in that election.
New Zealand First has presented a more lasting populist platform; long-time party leader
Winston Peters has been characterised by some as a populist who uses anti-establishment rhetoric, though in a uniquely New Zealand style. == See also ==