Populism raises awkward questions about modern forms of democracy. It often represents the ugly face of the people. It is neither the highest form of democracy nor its enemy. It is, rather, a mirror in which democracy may contemplate itself, warts and all, in a discovery of itself and what it lacks.

This definitive collection, edited by one of the world’s pre-eminent authorities on populism, Francisco Panizza, combines theoretical essays with a number of specially commissioned case studies on populist politics in the US, Britain, Canada, Western Europe, Palestine, Latin America and South Africa. A broadly shared understanding of the nature of populism gives the book a coherence rarely found in collective works and enhances the richness of the case studies.

Francisco Panizza is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has written extensively on populism and democracy in contemporary Latin America and is currently working on a book on politics and modernity in the region.

288 pages


Cloth
1 85984 523 1
£55 / US$75 / CAN$110

Paper
1 85984 489 8
£25 / US$25 / CAN$36