Authoritarian Populism in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Studies on populism in Latin America discussed dysfunctional economic policies resulting in crises. Recently, populists are more pragmatic. Populism is a political strategy based on distributing economic privileges creating a stable clientelistic base, and facilitating authoritarian entrenchment. However, this perspective, based on interests, needs to be supplemented with focus on ideas. While, support for populism in Southern Europe may be explained by weak economic performance coupled with features of income distribution, this does not explain in full the rise of populism in Central Eastern Europe. Qualitative comparative analysis suggests that adding to economic factors, a combination of Communist heritage, and a branch of Catholicism that unlike that in the West is not associated with support for human rights, explains cases of populism in the region.