Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat

Countering Global Alarmism

Bibliographic Data

ID6536616
AuthorsK Weyland (0000-0002-6106-8661, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author)
Year2024
Publication date2024-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueDemocracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/9781009432504
OpenAlexW4390719168
Open LibraryOL50647166M
ISBN9781009432467, 9781009432504
GOOGLE_BOOK_IDkjIH0AEACAAJ
LanguageEN
Citations received29

The recent global wave of populist governments, which culminated in Donald Trump's victory in 2016, has convinced many observers that populism is a grave threat to democracy. In his new book, Kurt Weyland critiques recent scholarship for focusing too closely on cases where populist leaders have crushed democracy, and instead turns to the many cases where would populist-authoritarians have failed to overthrow democracy. Through a systematic comparative analysis of thirty populist chief executives in Latin America and Europe over the last four decades, Weyland reveals that populist leaders can only destroy democracy under special, restrictive conditions. Left-wing populists suffocate democracy only when benefitting from huge revenue windfalls, whereas right-wing populists must perform the heroic feat of resolving acute, severe crises. Because many populist chief executives do not face these propitious conditions, Weyland proves that despite populism's threat, democracy remains resilient

Democracy · Direct democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Social science · Sociology · Victory · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements

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