Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics

In this article, I attempt to clarify the relationships among three contemporary concepts that are often used interchangeably or conflated in the literature: anti-establishment politics, political outsiders and populism. In order to make sense of these manifestations of public discontent, I argue th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inParty politics Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 29 - 48
Main Author Barr, Robert R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2009
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Attitudes
Citizens
Concepts
Direct Democracy
Discontent
Meaning
Party systems
Political attitudes
Political culture
Political parties
Political Representation
Political science
Politics
Populism
Public opinion
Ruling class
State-society relations
Trust
public discontent
direct democracy
populism
political outsiders
anti-politics
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Summary:In this article, I attempt to clarify the relationships among three contemporary concepts that are often used interchangeably or conflated in the literature: anti-establishment politics, political outsiders and populism. In order to make sense of these manifestations of public discontent, I argue that one must examine the nature of political appeals, political actors' locations vis-à-vis the party system and the linkages between citizens and government. Doing so, furthermore, helps clarify the meaning of populism, one of the most elusive concepts in political science. The definition of populism I offer allows us to synthesize much of the literature on the subject while weeding out unnecessary and secondary characteristics. Importantly, too, this definition allows us to separate competing claims of `direct democracy' and thus populists from non-populists.
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ISSN:1354-0688
1460-3683
DOI:10.1177/1354068808097890