ABSTRACT
The Greek and American populists both targeted their parties’ traditional voters while simultaneously courting disengaged or otherwise unlikely new supporters. The legacy of the SYRIZA-led government was its rupture with ‘the European establishment’. Until recently, prevailing scholarship regarded individual populists in parliament, in local government or as minor partners in nationally governing coalitions as examples of ‘populists in power’. The Greek and American populists both targeted their parties’ traditional voters while simultaneously courting disengaged or otherwise unlikely new supporters. The legacy of the SYRIZA-led government was its rupture with (but eventual capitulation to) ‘the European establishment’. Decades of anti-populist theorisation have caricatured populists as an intrinsic threat to democracy while at the same time questioning their capacity to govern. The case of SYRIZA invites the reader to consider whether or not ‘left populism’ can bring about societal change.
