Populism: Ideology Or Political Movement

Populism is an ideology or political movement that causes a population or community usually lower class individuals or any group to go against an institution or government calling themselves to be the “underdog” or the oppressed people. Populism can either be left or right winged as it helps unite the so-called “little man” to the dominant corrupt elites. Populism is widely used today by many politicians or political groups to unite masses unto their side as they would say they are the more righteous group that are against the evil and corrupt elites. An example of a politician that uses a populist is the famed U.S. President Donald Trump, he uses speeches to unite his crowds and states policies that would protect these masses from evils such

(It was also used to refer to Russia’s 19th-century narodnichestvo movement, which largely comprised self-hating intellectuals with a crush on the peasantry.) In the 1950s academics and journalists began applying it more broadly to describe everything from fascist and communist movements in Europe to America’s anti-communist McCarthyites and Argentina’s Peronistas (M.S.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and US President Donald Trump seem like twins in terms of political style. They appear to revel in their repeated breach of correct speech and behavioral codes, treating these as the hypocrisies of a detested political establishment. They have both been antagonistic toward the mainstream media, seeing them as complicit guardians of a corrupt system. In the pursuit of their pet programs, both have manifested an authoritarian intransigence darkly reminiscent of fascism (David 2017). Duterte presents himself as the crusader that goes against media and other political heads calling them out as corrupt people or the elites that are the enemy of the masses and that he is the righteous one to the people. Yet the issue of populism is not how this method is used, but how it’s used for. Political ideals that are righteously wrong that are used to make the population believe or perceive as their right, twisting the true intention of these politicians to make the populous believe that they are on their side. Professor in School of Public and International Affairs Cas Mudde would answer on populism being a political issue, “Yes, populism is an important feature of contemporary politics, but not all anti-establishment politics is populism and populist parties are not just about populism.