The Global Implications of Populism on Democracy

Abstract

The election of Donald J. Trump as the U.S. President in 2016, Brexit, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France—these are just a few of the recent events that have focused the world’s attention on populism. What is populism? What are the implications for democracy and foreign relations? This report documents the growing influence of populism through an examination of eight case studies—Brazil, Hungary, India, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela—in order to answer these questions for the think tank Freedom House. These countries were selected as they were all constitutional democracies when a populist politician or party gained national power or influence.