Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Populism |
PopulismNoun1. The political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "populism" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1980. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The word populism is derived from the Latin word populus, which means people in English (in the sense of "I will govern for the people", not in the sense of "There are people visiting us today"). Therefore, populism espouses government by the people as a whole (that is to say, the masses). This is in contrast to elitism or aristocracy, both of which are ideologies which espouse government by a small, privileged group above the masses.
The history of populism stretches right back to ancient times. Spartacus could be considered an example of a populist leader of a slave rebellion against the elitist rulers Ancient Rome. In more recent times, the French Revolution, though led by wealthy intellectuals, could also be described as a manifestation of populist sentiment against the elitist excesses and privileges of the régime ancien. Abraham Lincoln could not have summed up the populist ideology better when, in his famous Gettysburg Address, he advocated "... government of the people, by the people, for the people."
A demagogue is a leader who obtains power by appealing to the gut feelings of the public, usually by powerful use of rhetoric and propaganda. H. L. Mencken defined a demagogue as "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."
The word is nowadays mostly used as a political insult: political opponents are described as demagogues, but people we approve of are "men of the people", or great speechmakers.
In the twentieth century populism gained an altogether more ominous character when dictators such as Juan Peron, Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler and Huey Long used demagogery and populist rhetoric to achieve their privileged leadership positions. It could be argued that none of these men were genuine populists because they usually saw the masses as not fit to govern for themselves and therefore their elitist and privileged style of leadership was needed to govern and regulate the behaviour of the masses. Indeed, Adolf Hitler's contempt for the masses was profound; Mein Kampf written by Hitler is replete with sentiments such as "the masses are inherently stupid", not to mention his hatred for democracy and adoration of Social Darwinism.
Though populism is often associated with ideologies such as nationalism and socialism, it is not always necessarily so. Populism can be both left wing and right wing. In the above examples, Juan Peron would be perceived as a left-wing populist; while Adolf Hitler would normally be thought of as a right-wing populist.Enlightened populism
Descent into demagoguery
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Populism."
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Cowboy, "Peffer," wrestles with hot air balloon, "Populism," over Washington, D.C. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Austria | The party's mixture of populism and anti-establishment themes propagated by its aggressive leader Joerg Haider steadily gained support over the past years. (references) |
Political Economy | Uruguay | While party ideology runs from fiscal conservatism to populism, the largest faction favors economic reform and free enterprise. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | Put profits last and feel-good populism first. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Populism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Populism" is used about 67 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 67 | 40,952 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
populism | 65 |
economic populism | 16 |
populism right wing | 11 |
oz populism wizard | 8 |
definition populism | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "populism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | تصوير حياة الشعب بواقعية. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | народничество. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 人民党主义. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | populisme. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | populisme. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | populismus. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | populismo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 人民主義 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | じ"み"しゅぎ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | opulismpay explosão demográfica. (various references) популизм;народничество, популизм. (various references) populismo. (various references) chủ nghĩa dân tuý. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "populism": populisms. (additional references) | |
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"Populism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Eopolis, opulism, Poplius, populas, populis, populos, Populum, poulis, poulism, poulsom. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "populism" (pronounced pÄ"pyuli'zum) |
| 6 | -u l i' z u m | bilingualism, cannibalism, capitalism, centralism, colonialism, commercialism, dualism, emotionalism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, evangelism, factionalism, fatalism, federalism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, gradualism, imperialism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, journalism, legalism, liberalism, materialism, mercantilism, metabolism, minimalism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, nationalism, naturalism, neutralism, nihilism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, pluralism, professionalism, provincialism, racialism, radicalism, sensationalism, socialism, supernaturalism, symbolism, territorialism, vandalism. |
| 5 | -l i' z u m | alcoholism, botulism, embolism, idealism, parallelism, realism, surrealism. |
| 4 | -i' z u m | abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bolshevism, boosterism, catechism, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, empiricism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, fanaticism, fascism, favoritism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, illusionism, impressionism, interventionism, Irredentism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, leftism, lesbianism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, mechanism, mesmerism, methodism, microorganism, militarism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, mysticism, narcissism, nativism, negativism, nepotism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parkinsonism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, polymorphism, polytheism, positivism, pragmatism, protectionism, puritanism, racism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, statism, stoicism, synergism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism. |
| 3 | -z u m | bosom, careerism, chasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm, ism, microcosm, neoplasm, orgasm, phantasm, prism, sarcasm, schism, spasm. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "i-l-m-o-p-p-s-u" | |
-2 letters: opiums, pilous, plumps, poilus, pupils, slipup. | |
-3 letters: limos, limps, louis, loups, lumps, milos, moils, opium, pilus, pimps, pious, plops, plump, plums, poilu, polis, pomps, pulis, pulps, pumps, pupil, slump, solum, spoil. | |
-4 letters: imps, limo, limp, lips, lisp, lops, loup, lump, lums, milo, mils, miso, moil, mols, mops, oils, opus, pimp, pips, piso, plop. | |
| Words containing the letters "i-l-m-o-p-p-s-u" | |
+1 letter: populisms. | |
+3 letters: semipopular. | |
+4 letters: multipurpose. | |
+5 letters: papillomatous, superdiplomat. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 6F 70 75 6C 69 73 6D |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. --- .--. ..- .-.. .. ... -- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01101111 01110000 01110101 01101100 01101001 01110011 01101101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P o p u l i s m |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 006F 0070 0075 006C 0069 0073 006D |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5081828778758579 |
| 1. Definition 2. Usage: Commercial 3. Images: Photo Album 4. Quotations: Non-fiction | 5. Quotations: Spoken 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
