ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses populism from three perspectives by using the concepts of welfare state, globalisation and postmodernism as a reflective surface for contemporary political populism. In Western liberal democracies, the ideal of the welfare state has been a key factor for and against which new populist movements have constructed their political identifications. Globalisation, in turn, has created an economic, political and cultural framework to contemporary populist movements in a more general level around the globe. In addition, talk about fragmented and unsettled postmodernism was raised simultaneously with emerging new populist movements in the end of 20th century and explains the longing for a coherent subjectivity and use of nostalgia in populist identifications.
