How do Populists Govern?

Abstract

Chapter 5 deals with populists in office and exposes what the author terms the “populist blueprint.” Once again based on comparative empirical analysis, it explains how populist parties consolidate in power by means of grabbing the top state administration and depriving key liberal institutions of autonomy, especially the judiciary, state-independent authorities, and the media. Another common characteristic of all populist parties in office is their systematization of patronage politics under the logic of excluding the opposition from state-related benefits and other resources. Finally, the pieces of the illiberal and populist project are put together in an effort to think about it all in a systematic and rationalizing way.