'Hyper-politics' and the Populist Pantomime

'Hyper-politics' and the Populist Pantomime

Image: Agata Gładykowska/AlamyNearly a decade on from the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s first inauguration, the word ‘populist’ is still everywhere, and it still lacks a consistent definition. For most, it’s become a classic case of “you just know it when you see it.”Academics claim that populism is about style rather than substance. The political philosopher Ernesto Laclau called it a “logic,” “a way of constructing the political.” Populists w…