Why are democracies around the world turning populist?

From the election of Trump in the US and Modi in India to Bolsanaro in Brazil and Meloni in Italy, the rhetoric of populist ‘political outsiders’ has reaped rich political dividends. This is often accompanied by calls to cleanse democracy of its ills, with a nebulously defined predatory elite blamed for the people’s sufferings. Why has this mode of electioneering become so widespread? Political scientist Srirupa Roy shows how Indian history can help find answers.

Despite being a democracy for more than 75 years,India is home to strident criticisms of the system. The successes of AAP under Arvind Kejriwal and the Narendra Modi-led BJP show the value of calls for ‘curative democracy’ and of campaigning as redemptive outsiders pledging to combat a corrupt system. These tactics can be traced back to the long 1970s, when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. Both her and her opponents legitimised themselves as reformers of the system. Authoritarianism and democracy shared a strange reciprocity. The same language persists into our time. The result has been a normalisation of populist antipolitics and strongman authoritarian rule.

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