Populism, Punishment and the Threat to Democratic Order

This book traces the rise of contemporary populism in Western democracies, marked by the return of would-be ''strong men'' politicians. It seeks to make sense of the nature, origins, and consequences of their ascendancy¿as expressed, for example, in the startling rise of the social movement surrounding Trump in the US, Brexit in the UK and the remarkable spread of ideologies that express resistance to ¿facts,¿ science, and expertise.

Uniquely, the book shows how what began as a form of penal populism in the early 1990s transformed into a more wide ranging populist politics. This has had the potential to undermine or even overthrow the democratic order altogether. It examines the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on these forces, arguing it threw the flailing democratic order an important lifeline, as Vladimir Putin has subsequently done with his war in Ukraine. The book argues that contemporary political populism can be seen as a wider manifestation of the earli