Is There Such a Thing as Populism? calls into question our common understanding of populism. Taken on their own, commonplace references to the people, leaders, or elites are more like dog whistles or false positives of populism than part of a serious attempt to address the phenomenon. Scholars asked themselves, “What is populism?” without realizing that this assumed there was such a thing and that we just needed to figure out what it meant. That was a mistake. Benjamin Arditi prop...

In The Book of Others, Benjamin Arditi examines the enduring theoretical influence of four major political thinkers—Carl Schmitt, Louis Althusser, Ernesto Laclau, and Jacques Rancière—whom he frames as “others” central to shaping contemporary understandings of politics. Arditi situates these figures within the terrain of post-foundational thought, emphasizing their skepticism about transcendental grounds in political theory. Through chapters focused on themes like modernity, const...

Populism raises awkward questions about modern forms of democracy. It often represents the ugly face of the people. It is neither the highest form of democracy nor its enemy. It is, rather, a mirror in which democracy may contemplate itself, warts and all, in a discovery of itself and what it lacks. This definitive collection, edited by one of the worlds pre-eminent authorities on populism, Francisco Panizza, combines theoretical essays with a number of specially commissioned case studies ...