ABSTRACT
Populism is a frequently used term in political and scientific debates. For a long time, the term was rather marginal and mainly used with regard to Latin America. Historically, the term populism first appeared in Russia during the 1870s to refer to the narodniki, a group of political activists that tried to establish a social system based on popular institutions and traditions. Until the success of Donald Trump in the United States (US) the term populism was mainly applied to Latin America rather than North America. The term populism can also be found in the language of Inter-American relations. The US is frequently concerned with Latin American governments that are said to follow a populist agenda. The conceptualization of populism as a political logic is a possibility to pay tribute to a variety of regional differences which should be considered.
