What Have Populists Done for Us?

This ground-breaking book goes beyond conventional arguments to explore how and why populists are able to hold power for long periods. It illustrates that exclusionary populist movements maintain power whenever they succeed in stabilizing social structures around a political project promoted as an alternative to the current hegemony.

Dani Filc and Amit Avigur-Eshel employ a neo-Gramscian framework grounded in the distinct analytical concepts of ideology, historical blocs, and economic growth models to examine the long rule of Israel’s Likud party during 2009–2019. Exemplifying how public policies are crucial to exclusionary populists retaining power, they find that the combination of neoliberal and heterodox socio-economic policies and the exploitation of Israel’s export-led growth model to improve the material welfare of ''the people'', as well as deals struck with non-populist forces based on ideological commonalities were pivotal in Likud’s decade-long reign. Looking beyond Israel, Filc and Avigur-Eshel apply this analytical framework to successful exclusionary populist parties across Asia and Europe to emphasize the importance of understanding the interrelationship between populist historical blocs, their worldviews and growth models.

A pioneering study of populism, this book will appeal to students and scholars of political economy, political sociology, international and comparative politics, political parties, public policy, and governance. Policymakers and researchers interested in the relationship between populism and growth models will also find it beneficial.