ABSTRACT
Populism in the Middle East has a relatively long history. This chapter discusses three case studies – Iran, Turkey, and Israel – analyzing if and which movements can be considered populist, and considering whether there are examples of inclusive or exclusionary populism. Moreover, as argued in the specific cases, the study of populism in the Middle East illuminates another sub-family, that of religious populism. Religious populism is characterized by a tension between inclusion and exclusion, since religion defines the boundaries of belonging, and as a consequence it has an irreducible exclusionary dimension. While Ernesto Laclau considers the chain of equivalences as symbolical, the chapter considers three different dimensions around which populist movements are constituted: symbolical, distributive or material, and political. The Turkish and the Israeli case highlight the characteristics of populism in non-liberal (or semi-liberal) democracies, and the exclusionary potential of populism in societies characterized by ethno-national conflicts.
