In What is Populism?, Jan-Werner Müller provides a timely perspective on the pressing question of what populism is and how to respond to it. Defining populism as anti-pluralist, elite-critical politics with a moral claim to representation, he cautions that populists are both willing and able to govern and may therefore deform democracy by turning states towards partisanship. This short book is a recommended read for academics as well as the wider public, writes Theresa Gessler

Gessler, Theresa

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12/14/2016Book Review: What is Populism? by Jan-Werner Müllerblogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/12/14/book-review-what-is-populism-by-jan-werner-muller/In What is Populism?, Jan-Werner Müller provides a timely perspective on the pressing question of whatpopulism is and how to respond to it. Deﬁning populism as anti-pluralist, elite-critical politics with a moral claim torepresentation, he cautions that populists are both willing and able to govern and may therefore deform democracyby turning states towards partisanship. This short book is a recommended read for academics as well as the widerpublic, writes Theresa Gessler.What is Populism? Jan-Werner Müller. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2016.Find this book: Populism is a hot topic of which there is no shortage of analysis. By combiningtheoretical rigour with his knowledge about the empirical realities of populism,Jan-Werner Müller nevertheless manages to add some important and so-farneglected points in What is Populism? He organises his book around threequestions, the latter two of which still lack scholarly attention: namely, what dopopulists say; what do populists do when they are in power; and how should theybe dealt with? To discuss the merits of the book, it is worth outlining Müller’sanswers to each of these questions.Müller starts by characterising populism as a speciﬁc form of identity politics that iscritical of elites, anti-pluralist and has a moral claim of representation (2-3). Theintroduction and the ﬁrst chapter (‘What Populists Say’) represent the scholarly‘meat’ of the book and discuss competing deﬁnitions of populism. Müller arguesagainst conﬂating populism with ‘irresponsible politics’ or equating it with the fearsor anger of voters. Such psychologising analyses, according to the author, showvoters that the so-called ‘liberal elites’ are condescending and ‘unable to live up totheir own democratic ideals by failing to take ordinary people at their word’ (16). Instead, he settles on the form ofrepresentative claims as a criterion of populism: namely, that populist claims are moral and symbolic rather thanempirically testable. Populists are those politicians that claim to represent ‘100%’ of citizens while not accepting thelegitimacy of other actors that make representative claims.The second chapter addresses what populists do when in power. While this question is gaining attention, Müller stillargues against the basic misconception that populists are unable to govern (4). He identiﬁes three populisttechniques of governing: the occupation of the state; mass clientelism; and the repression of civil society (44). Whilethese strategies may also occur in other regimes, populist governments can practise them openly as they make amoral claim to the state. For populists, it is imperative that ‘the people’ (or their representatives) take control of stateinstitutions. As populists turn states partisan, he extensively criticises the terminology of ‘illiberal democracy’ (49),and instead suggests ‘defective democracies’ (58). He also returns to his deﬁnition of populism by discussing how indemocracies diﬀerent representative claims coexist, while populists in government (and the constitutions they write)attempt to put an end to democracy’s perennial boundary problems and internal renewal (72).1/3Image Credit: Donald Trump in Reno, Nevada, 10 January 2016 (Darron Birgenheier CC BYSA 2.0)The last chapter addresses the pressing question of how to respond to populists. While much of the chapter isdedicated to explaining populism’s appeal and criticising common responses to populism, Müller ultimately suggeststhat to engage with populists: ‘One can take their political claims seriously without taking them at face value’ (84).Thus, politicians and the media should address the issues raised by populists but challenge their framing. Regardingthe US, he makes a case for addressing the doubts of citizens who call for cultural closure by alleviating theireconomic worries (91-93). Regarding Europe, he cautions that its political systems were built on a distrust of popularsovereignty, fuelled by the experience of fascism (93-96). Thus, scepticism towards the technocratic response to theEuro crisis is often conﬂated with populism. Müller criticises actors who condemn any critique of elites as populist aswell as those who imagine a ‘left populism’ that is less exclusive. Instead of lamenting populists’ disrespect forpluralism and inclusive political communities, we have to ﬁnd more convincing arguments for both. Politically, ratherthan engaging in the construction of ‘the people’ as a whole, he suggests building partial majorities within politicalsystems that bring in the excluded without marginalising the currently powerful (99).Müller’s book is both analytical and involved, the work of a public intellectual in the best sense. It addresses avariety of issues related to populism today, whether it is new constitutions and referenda in Eastern Europe, the USelection campaign or the questionable inner-party democracy of the Italian Cinque Stelle movement (31).  Müller isnot afraid to ask uncomfortable questions, such as whether the liberal critique of populism has failed or whetherpopulists are simply successful politicians disliked by mainstream candidates. While going through a range ofexamples, he maintains a level of abstraction that makes the book interesting to all readers.Academically, the book is most promising where Müller addresses democratic theory. Exemplary is his discussion ofHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s use of illiberal democracy, where Müller not only fervently defendsliberalism as an integral part of democracy but also outlines what an illiberal democracy would look like by pointingto the history of Christian democracy as a culturally illiberal ideology that nevertheless upheld politically liberal rights(54). Thus, he provides strong arguments why populist leaders should not ‘get to keep ‘‘democracy’” (56). This isbased on a conviction he shares with much of the populism literature: namely, that populism does not oﬀer anattractive ideological alternative to democracy. Instead, populists use democracy’s broken promises and ‘thelanguage of democratic values’ (6) to deform democracy. Thus, many of his arguments are a call for a democratic2/3renewal that takes its own principles more seriously.The analytical value of Müller’s deﬁnitions nonetheless remains to be seen. Since the book is not an empirical study,he does not provide a coherent operationalisation. Distinctions between populist and liberal claims in practice aresometimes upheld through hypotheticals (40) or context criteria (73) rather than rigorous deﬁnition. Some of hisideas, like the characterisation of populists in power and particularly the civil society aspect, remain withoutconcretisation. This is partly due to the format of the book: it is not a systematic structure but Müller’s argumentativechains that drive the narrative. His arguments are recursive, addressing similar issues from diﬀerent angles. Thisdraws readers in, but it also means they have to reconstruct the answers to each chapter’s guiding questionsthroughout the entire text. As a result, as with any thought-provoking book, the reader may ﬁnd as many new doubtsas answers.With its vivid style, What is Populism? is very timely and remains accessible to a general audience despite Müller’sextensive engagement with political theory. At just over one hundred pages, the book is so engaging that whilewriting this review, I discovered more and more friends and colleagues were eagerly reading it. Thus, withChristmas approaching, What is Populism? may be the perfect gift for researchers as well as for interested friendsand family members who have always wondered what political scientists actually do.Theresa Gessler is a PhD Candidate at the European University Institute. Her current research focuses on partiesthat mobilise for democratic renewal, both in an inclusive and populist sense. She is particularly interested inEastern and Southern Europe and has previously studied at Central European University in Budapest.Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of theLondon School of Economics.Copyright 2013 LSE Review of Books3/3

Book review: what is populism? by Jan-Werner Müller

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