ABSTRACT

This chapter shows that populism, in its various forms, has never been as mainstream in society and politics as it is in the post-economic crisis scenario. Not only have the ideas supported by populist parties become more popular, to the extent that mainstream parties may embrace them in order not to lose their electorate, but populist parties are also increasingly included in coalition governments as both junior and major partners. Populist parties took advantage of the window of opportunity that the Great Recession provided from 2008 onward. Overall, they seem to have had a particularly deep impact on less established democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the Visegrad countries. However, the chapter provides evidence that it is ‘exclusionary’ populism that poses a particularly serious challenge to liberal democratic institutions, rather than other forms of populism.