Populism - Styles and Methods

Styles and Methods

Some scholars argue that populist organizing for empowerment represents the return of older "Aristotelian" politics of horizontal interactions among equals who are different, for the sake of public problem solving. Populism has taken left-wing, right-wing, and even centrist forms, as well as forms of politics that bring together groups and individuals of diverse partisan views. The use of populist rhetoric in the United States has recently included references such as "the powerful trial lawyer lobby", "the liberal elite", or "the Hollywood elite". Examples of populist rhetoric on the other side of the political spectrum is the anti-corporate greed views of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the theme of "Two Americas" in the 2004 Presidential Democratic Party campaign of John Edwards.

Populists are seen by some politicians as a largely democratic and positive force in society, while a wing of scholarship in political science contends that populist mass movements are irrational and introduce instability into the political process. Margaret Canovan argues that both these polar views are faulty, and has defined two main branches of modern populism worldwide—agrarian and political—and mapped out seven disparate sub-categories:

Agrarian

• Commodity farmer movements with radical economic agendas such as the US People's Party of the late 19th century.
• Subsistence peasant movements, such as the Eastern European Green Rising militias, which followed World War I.
• Intellectuals who romanticize hard-working farmers and peasants and build radical agrarian movements like the Russian narodniki.

Political

• Populist democracy, including calls for more political participation through reforms such as the use of popular referendums.
• Politicians' populism marked by non-ideological appeals for "the people" to build a unified coalition.
• Reactionary populism, such as the white backlash harvested by George Wallace.
• Populist dictatorship, such as that established by Getúlio Vargas in Brazil.

In addition to Canovan's list that only lists right-wing political populist reactions, leftist movements such as the Cultural Revolution and Cambodia's "Year Zero" campaign would also be examples of political populism.