OutlineIn spite of its sound historical roots, populism has become
a catch-all word, applied to many different ideologies,
movements, governmental experiences. Once confined to
countries undergoing deep social and economic transformations,
it is now applied also to define tensions within
well-established democratic regimes.
The vertical axis, ideology
to government, takes into consideration two aspects
of democracy - redemptive and pragmatic - as described by
Margaret Canovan (1999), while also underlying the fact
that populism is no longer limited to the ideology of opposition
movements but has become, in many instances, an
instrument of governmental power. The horizontal axis
distinguishes the traditional populist environment, based
on communitarian and ethnic linkages, from the individualistic
mobilization typical of contemporary media-driven
and charismatic populism.
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