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In their pursuit of being elected, politicians might not provide their constituents with independent viewpoints, but just try to outguess popular opinion. Although rational voters see through such populism, candidates can not resist resorting to it when the spoils of office are too large. For an intermediate parameter range, both populism and its opposite, "candor", can be sustained as equilibria. This means that the public's trust or distrust in politicians may be self-fulfilling prophecies. Importantly, the more informed politicians are about public opinion, the more likely it is that populist behavior can be avoided.

Argues that the antimodernist impulse of populism, which has historically been denigrated in mainstream culture, assumes greater legitimacy under postmodern conditions in which the concept of progress has been discredited. Against interpretations of populism as inherently xenophobic, modern defenders of populism are described as seeking a postmodern model of communal life in which the organicity of communities assumes special importance. It is suggested that this populist vision is an effort to reconstruct the kind of individuality that disintegrated in the face of modern conditions of social life. John Dewey's pragmatic theory of experience is considered as the closest approximation to this postmodern populist ideal. Finally, the work of Carl Schmitt (1950) is employed as a starting point for a more explicitly political theory of postmodern populism. D. M. Smith

Explores populism and neo-populism in Argentina, radical populist Right in Western Europe, "Lukashism" and authoritarian populism in Belarus, liberal reforms and institutional democracy in Argentina, election speeches and legislative practices of the Maurice Duplessis government in Quebec, and rise of the radical Right in Turkey; 6 articles. Summaries in English.

Asserting that politics has the capacity to shift negative societal directions & revive democracy, it is contended that civic populism is required to merge everyday politics with electoral politics to foster that improvement. Civic populism calls for citizen participation & the blending of interest group bargaining with broader civic ideals, which requires work, a concept absent from theories of participatory democracy. Flaws in communitarian & liberal theories are laid out before presenting an alternative to underpin US civic life in civic populism. Civic populism embodies a conception of everyday politics, ie, the interaction of citizens with basically equal, horizontal relationships with each other across settings; this results in alliances of diverse citizen groups that organize based on a philosophical orientation to politics rooted in democratic & religious values. Attention turns to public work as a theme of civic populism. Public work is viewed as the sustained effort by a blend of citizens to create material or cultural goods of lasting civic value. It also sheds light on the democratic potential of knowledge power. It is concluded that civic populism stresses the productive & distributive aspects of politics as key resources for citizen empowerment. 37 References. J. Zendejas

Searches for a useful & accurate definition of Islamic movements in the Middle East. The often-used term "theocratic populism" is incorrect, as it incorporates concepts used to the explain events in other parts of the world. Similarly rejected are the ideas of Michel Foucault, who observed the 1979 Iranian Revolution first hand. He argued that it was neither antimodern nor populist, but rather, the injection of the spiritual into political life. In his romanticizing of the revolution, however, he downplayed repressive aspects of it & failed to understand the authoritarian cult of the personality. The ideas of Jurgen Habermas can also be used to understand the defense of the life world in the Middle East against further enroachments by the world system. It is argued here, however, that a historical understanding of the development of the Iranian state, Islam, foreign intervention, & nationalism must be pursued. The analysis emphasizes the need to retrieve the strain of participatory democracy in Iran from the demagogic populism of the power elite in order to check the rise of religious fascism, which threatens a more liberal path for the Middle East. J. Cowie

Examines populism as a political style involving rapport with "the people", focusing on the Mexican experience and the phenomenon of neo-populism embodied by President Salinas of Mexico, President Menem of Argentina, and President Fujimori of Peru, among others.

'In all matters of importance, style and not content
is the
important thing': Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest.Populism is a concept which, despite repeated critiques, refuses to

disappear from Latin American studies. This article reviews some of the

literature, suggesting that populism is best defined in terms of a
particular
political style, characteristically involving a proclaimed
rapport with 'the people',
a 'them-and-us' mentality, and (often, though not necessarily)
a period of crisis
and mobilisation; none of which makes it exceptional, abnormal, 'unmediated'

or irrational. Mexican – among other – examples are invoked.
The article
questions some received opinions: that populism is typically urban, relates
to
particular historical stages of development, or distinctively derives from
either
multi-class alliances or elite manipulation. It also queries the fashionable
notion
of 'economic populism'. Finally, the article notes the recent
phenomenon of
'neo-populism', embodied by Salinas, Menem, Fujimori, etc.,
which a suitably
loose ('stylistic') definition can usefully accommodate,
thus suggesting the
continued, if limited, utility of the concept.