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Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart

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Radio. Hey

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brain Stuff, Lauren Bogobam here. For

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years now, populists have been popping

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up all over the globe, from

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India and Europe to the Philippines in

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South America, and of course into

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the United States. Politicians

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with populist leanings and those

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who have gone full fledged populist in their

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quest for power have been making a

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lot of noise and a good deal

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of trouble. Think Marine

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Lapine in France, Victor Orban

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in Hungary, Rodrigo Duterte in

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the Philippines, former Venezuelan

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President Hugo Chavez, India's

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Prime Minister Nearndra Modi, and

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ys by many people's definition, Donald

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Trump in the United States. But

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what is a populist? What is populism?

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Answering that is notoriously difficult.

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A part of the difficulty arises from the fact

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that populists can come from all part

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of the political spectrum. There are leftist

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populists around the world who combine various

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forms of socialism with their populist

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message. There are those on the right who

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push anti immigration and anti lgbt

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Q plus platforms in their populism.

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Populism in general refers

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to appealing to ordinary people as

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a political ideology or approach.

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It involves emphasizing the wants,

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needs, voices, and good qualities

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of the common people, and it

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usually does so by contrasting

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this idea of the good common people

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with the bad elite working against

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them. Best case scenario,

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a populist leader would be honestly

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looking at the issues that ordinary people face

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and helping create solutions for them,

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thus making the will of the people law,

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and that is what populist leaders

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tend to promise. Unfortunately,

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what tends to happen, and what political

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scientists have observed in the aforementioned

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play is, is these populist

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leaders bending the definitions of both

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the common people and the elite

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in order to gain power within a democratic

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system, and then undermining

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the very fabric of that democracy in order

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to stay in power, de emphasizing

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some of the crucial parts of the democratic process,

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such as the articulation of varied

2:21

interests and the thoughtful mediation

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of those interests. It

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can be incredibly effective for the leader

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and incredibly damaging for the democracy

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that they're distorting, and for anyone

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who lives within that democracy who isn't

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in the group that the leader has defined as

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the common people. So

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worst case scenario, populism

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redefines the common people as

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a group with narrow interests and

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then insists that only their

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will matters. We

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spoke with political scientists Anna Gujmala

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Bussa, a professor at Stanford University

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and the director of the School Rules Global Populisms

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Project, which published a white paper

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in March called Global

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Populisms and their Challenges. It

3:08

addresses the threats of populism and

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identifies several possible solutions.

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According to the paper, populism is growing

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across the globe because of the failure

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of major political parties to address

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the thorny issues that ordinary people

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face in today's world, immigration,

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economic inequality, and globalism,

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just to name a few. This

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gives populist leaders a sort of foot

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in the door to claim that not only the

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elite members of those political parties

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are bad, but that the whole system

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is bad. Populist

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leaders climbed to prominence by dividing

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society, splitting it into two

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not just separate but opposing factions,

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the people and the elite. A

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University of Georgia political scientists by

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the name of cast. Mood explained it this way

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in an article for Vice. Quote

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the key distinction between the people and the elite

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is not based on class or power, but

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on morality. It is always the pure

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against the corrupt. But

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again, the people is often

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an exclusive group. But to quote

4:13

the Stanford paper, populists

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redefine the people, often by

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excluding vulnerable ethnic or religious

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minorities, immigrants, and marginalized

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economic groups. The result

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is majority rule without minority

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rights. Once

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in power, populist leaders attack not

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only the rights of individuals who don't

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fit into the defined majority,

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but the very foundations on which the country

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lies. That includes

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the papers authors wrote quote, the

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takeover and taming of courts and oversight

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institutions, and new laws

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that limit the freedom of the media and civil

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society. We've

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seen this in the United States, with Trump calling

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the press the enemy of the people, criticizing

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judges, resisting congressional oversight,

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claiming that elections are rigged, flouting

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laws, and claiming that a deep state

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of bureaucratic actors is out to get him

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to deny the will of the people

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he represents. It happens

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with other populist leaders all over the world.

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Gamala Busa explained the mindset,

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saying, the opposition is the enemy

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of the people. Why would you listen to them? The

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media is the swamp. Why would you listen to

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them? Everything is fake,

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everything is suspect, and no

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one is to be trusted except the

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populace. And

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that populace, remember, does not include

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voices of the population's minorities

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or anyone who disagrees with the labeled

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majority. Gamala

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Busa said, this is not about

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making poor people wealthy. This is not

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about punishing the elite and redistributing

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wealth. There's almost nothing

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in the populist program that actually

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makes everyday people's lives better. Populists

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don't do that. They simply don't. It's

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not the people who have suffered the most who support

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populist parties. It's really sort

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of the people who fear dropping further down

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in societal prestige and economic status.

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Populist leaders often don't spring

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from the working class roots of what's

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thought of as being the people though. Consider

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Trump is a self professed billionaire real

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estate investor. Brazilian president Shaier

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Bosonar is a longtime congressman

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and military leader. Francis Lepine

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is the daughter of a career right wing

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politician the Philippines to Thirte

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spent decades as a mayor and lawyer, and

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India's Muody came from humble beginnings,

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but he's been in politics for more than forty

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years. Whatever

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their origins, populist leaders are identifiable

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by their claim to understand the people, by

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their US versus Them rhetoric, and

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by their assertations that they alone

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are the answer to the people's problems.

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They often speak in brash common

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of the people talk to. Despite

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their often highbrow educations, they're

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considered by many to be charismatic, and

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they damage democracies in other not

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readily apparent ways by striking

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down or radically altering what has

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become accepted over years of building

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a society, things like healthy

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debate, respect for opponents, and

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civil discourse. The

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illusion of telling it like it is draws

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in those looking for a change or

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not wanting to lose their grip on their place

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in society, but the

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populist leaders popularity is

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not forever. Populists who

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rise to power, the Stanford Project found

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often are punished more heavily by voters

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in trying to hang onto their power because

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they don't fulfill the promises they made.

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However, through these tactics of

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dividing people into good and bad,

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by chipping away at society's institutions,

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the courts, the media, the legislature, and

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by weakening norms of healthy

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debate, fair elections, and respect

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for one another, populists can

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hang on to power and even become all

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powerful. The Stanford paper

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authors wrote, the result is a

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gradual slide into authoritarianism,

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each step justified by the need to

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better root out disloyal elements

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and better serve the people read

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the partisan interests of the incumbents.

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Populism, gamal Abusa said, doesn't

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help the people it purports to serve. In

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the end, that's just politics.

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She also noted that populism

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and populist politicians aren't

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all bad. She said, I

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think populism in opposition of

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populists who don't enter government,

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play incredibly powerful roles in sort

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of shaking up the system, and above

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all, in reminding the existing political

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parties and politicians that they shouldn't

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be complacent. Today's

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episode it was written by John Donovan and produced by

9:01

Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other

9:03

topics. Visit how stuffworks dot com. Green

9:06

Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio. Or more

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