ABSTRACT
In this chapter, four historical forms of political populism are introduced: agrarian populism that relies on antagonism between nostalgic yearning for a pure primitive community and corrupt metropolitan way of life; authoritarian populism that pushes strong law and order and nationalist spirit with a powerful leader figure; politician's populism that emphasises the individual politician's performative skills in appealing to the people; and new populism, referring to contemporary populist movements that attack societal elites with nativist right-wing or anti-capitalist left-wing orientations. Historically, agrarian populism was successful in times of structural transformation from agrarian to industrialised societies between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries; authoritarian populism raised its head especially in the first half of the 20th century in Europe and second half of the 20th century in Latin America; politician's populism has been typical of individual vote-seeking politicians in 20th- and 21st-century-mediatised democracies; and new populism has been taken as a counter-reaction, especially to the structural changes that globalisation has brought out in nation states since the late 20th century, and led also into new emergence of authoritarian populism.
