A short, easily digestible book that eloquently argues the opinion on what populism is and it’s connection to pluralism. Considering the times in which we now live and recent events that have given us Trump and Brexit, this is an important book. Muller argues that a Populist will claim to be of the people while being conveniently vague about who the people really are, and will then turn out to be anti-pluralist. (If I am mangling this I apologise – I am a political light weight). An important definition since we have recently had people like that proto-amphibian Nigel Farage arguing that ‘the people have spoken’ when they are clearly not referring to all the people. Muller also makes the point that while the politically ineffective will eventually self deselect through incompetence, we should be aware of the huge amounts of damage they can do before they are removed from power. Backed up with examples from world history, this was informative and interesting.

In the current climate, this is an essential book, as Jan-Werner Müller defines populism's most salient characteristics - antielitism, antipluralism, exclusivity - explaining Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and other populists through this framework. He goes on to explain that populism is not just antiliberal, it is antidemocratic, and actually fails to be a real representational system for people once in power.

An interesting point made in this book is the fact that while certain grievances are completely credible, populists' assertion that they are the only legitimate voice to represent 'the will of the people', opposes democratic ideals in the first place - after all, that is what the electoral system is supposed to represent. He also makes a clear distinction between those claiming to be anti-establishment and populist - making the comparison between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, as Sanders never claimed to represent 100 per cent of the population, or pretended not to be part of elite institutions.

Müller is certainly right to challenge, or at least qualify, the popular talk of a populist wave by pointing out that “to this day, no right-wing populist has come to power in Western Europe or North American [sic] without the collaboration of established conservative elites.” It is a quick read, and worth every page.

Brilliant book that tries to explain a very popolar concept: populism (pun intended). As a political concept that has behind itself no political theory, it's not easy to get to understand exactly what characterizes populism, but it's very sad for me, that Italy is one of the most referred to country to explain the topic....

Libro molto interessante che tenta di spiegare il popolare concetto di populismo (sí, il gioco di parole era voluto). La spiegazione non é semplice, perché il populismo é un concetto politico privo di una teoria politica che lo sorregga, quindi non é facile caratterizzarlo, né tanto meno spiegarlo, ma la cosa peggiore é quanto spesso l'Italia venga comunque portata come esempio.....

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!