ABSTRACT
Populism is not an inevitable response to income inequality, demographic divides, divergent lifestyles, or even the perception of corruption on the part of the elites. Discontent due to these conditions may exist but remain unexpressed for extended periods of time. It is when long-standing norms, values, institutions, and demographics undergo rapid change that latent discontent becomes manifest, resulting in collective efforts to reverse the changes and reinstate the old reality. This response to destabilization can occur even when the new reality may prove beneficial for those who are most resistant to change. Populism thus is not inherently tethered to rational self-interest or to specific ideologies, but rather can best be understood in terms of dynamic processes that are unleashed when salient equilibria of a social system are destabilized. This model has implications for understanding, predicting, and perhaps managing the ascendance in recent years of populist movements in the United States, some European nations, and other parts of the world.
