Populism Specialist Group Series

Populism Specialist Group Series

From the People vs. the Elite to Everyone as the Enemy: The Strange Afterlife of Donald Trump’s Populism

Donald Trump’s second presidential term exposes how the structural logic of populism breaks down under its own expansion. As adversaries proliferate and the claim to embody a unified “people” weakens, antagonism survives but representation frays. What once relied on a clear, if contestable, moral divide now operates through thinning legitimacy and the staging of permanent confrontation.

27.02.2026

Populism Specialist Group Series

How Bolsonaro’s Gendered Populist Performance Polarized Brazil

In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro leveraged gender performance to craft and sustain an outsider persona, despite his long-standing tenure in parliament and his role as head of the executive. This performative act, however, had dire consequences. It intensified political polarization and turned intimate spheres shaped by gender relations into battlegrounds of ideological conflict, especially during the 2022 electoral campaign.

15.04.2025