What Is Populism?

No one has written more insightfully and knowledgeably about Europe's recent democratic decay than Jan-Werner Müller. His depiction of populism as democracy's antipluralist, moralistic shadow is masterful

Dani Rodrik, Harvard University

An exceptionally intelligent book about a notoriously slippery, yet essential, political concept. Jan-Werner Müller's sweeping critique of populism will both instruct and challenge anyone who seeks to understand the roots and nature of the political conflicts that are roiling Europe and the United States

Michael Kazin, author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History

Populism is not just antiliberal, it is antidemocratic -- the permanent shadow of representative politics. That's Jan-Werner Müller's argument in this brilliant book. There is no better guide to the populist passions of the present

Ivan Krastev, author of After Europe

In this essential book, Müller defines populism's most salient characteristics --antielitism, antipluralism, exclusivity -- and explains Trump and other populists through that framework. It is a quick read, and worth every page

Washington Post

An excellent short book

Timothy Garton Ash, New York Review of Books

This lucid guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand leaders such as Trump and Chávez

Guardian