ABSTRACT
When journalists and commentators state that populism is on the rise, they usually have the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and the rise of prominence of Nigel Farage, former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), in mind. While populism has the potential to be relatively inclusive, with leaders pledging to improve the position of the disenfranchised whatever their ethnic or racial identity, the logic of ethnic politics is inherently exclusionary. However, while advocating for a more careful and precise application of the concept of populism in sub-Saharan Africa, this chapter discusses the extent to which elements of populist practice permeate the campaigns of a wide range of leaders. It concludes by discussing the conditions under which populist appeals are most likely to be effective and the prospect for the conditions to become more common in the coming years.
