ABSTRACT
There is a serious difficulty with the concept of populism: it is often abused in political discourse. 1 By calling someone a “populist”, people are often just expressing their negative evaluation of the actor or her political agenda. Nevertheless, if we discuss political players such as the Kaczynski brothers in Poland, Fico in Slovakia, Ataka and GERB (Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya [Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria]) in Bulgaria – or the ones who are often referred to as “populists” – several common characteristics come to mind. 2
