populism
  • Giancarlo Bosetti 24 April 2025
    Pope Francis has been labeled by his critics as a populist, a claim that must be firmly rejected—unless we are willing to define as populist anyone who cares about the problem of poverty. Such an assumption would be absurd and repugnant. Populism is a broad concept with various meanings: in the North American context, in 19th-century Russia, and in Latin America during the 20th century. Today, especially in the West, the term refers to heterogeneous political groups that foster resentment toward political and economic elites, as well as hostility toward immigrants, refugees, and foreigners in general: a “we” versus “them” dynamic—against those in power on one hand, and against “others” and the “different” on the other, perceived as a threat to the interests of the native and resident population.
  • Nadia Urbinati 22 April 2025
    A son of Argentina, cradle of populism—a rhetoric that slices facts and ideas in two, goes straight for the emotions, and makes no concessions, because right and wrong must fall clearly on one side or the other. Argentine populism was socially nationalist in politics and conservative in values. Likewise, Pope Francis was a progressive populist on social issues and conservative on moral ones—after all, a position consistent with the principles of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Alessandra Tommasi 10 August 2024
    Twenty years later, the idea of a populist Zeitgeist—which Mudde titled his article after—seems less visionary as right-wing and far-right parties proliferate across Europe, both at the national level and within the EU. Some of these parties, like Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, have risen to power, albeit in coalition, becoming Italy’s leading party with a solid 28.8 percent. Others, such as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, have gained significant influence, coming third in the French legislative elections, just behind the cordon sanitaire between Macron and the Nouveau Front Populaire.
  • Sofia de Benedictis, Jonathan Laurence 30 June 2020
    Can the US regain its place as a beacon for democracy and multilateralism in the world? As the country moves closer to an election which could mark the end of a four-year long political maesltrom, Reset Dialogues discussed it with Thomas Wright, Director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe and The Atlantic contributor.
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