Commissioned Book Review: Kurt Weyland and Raúl L. Madrid, When Democracy Trumps Populism: European and Latin American Lessons for the United States
| Author | Reha Atakan Cetin |
| Published date | 01 November 2020 |
| Date | 01 November 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920936943 |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Reviews |
book-review2020
Commissioned Book Review
Political Studies Review
2020, Vol. 18(4) NP7 –NP8
Commissioned Book Review
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
When Democracy Trumps Populism:
with a dual effect. On one hand, populist move-
European and Latin American Lessons for
ments provided “inclusionary moves” that incor-
the United States by Kurt Weyland and Raúl
porated marginalized by bringing controversial
L. Madrid. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
issues such as immigration reform, corruption,
2019. 216 pp., $19.73, ISBN: 978-1-108-72882-9
and free trade. On the other hand, the mobiliza-
tion of the excluded led to political polarization,
When Democracy Trumps Populism: European ethnic tensions, and “moralistic dogmatism” (p.
and Latin American Lessons for the United 87). Yet, such populist practices did not under-
States provides a unique, comparative, and sys-
mine democracy, thanks to the strong institu-
tematic analysis of US democracy with refer-
tional frameworks that proved to be resilient (e.g.
ences to Europe and Latin America while arguing
Berlusconi in Italy), suggesting that strong insti-
that liberal democracy in the US will be resilient tutions in the US also seem to be a shield against
to populism in the sense that institutional con-
populism.
straints, strong partisan opposition, and advanced
In Chapter 4, Bonikowski maintains that
civil society will create serious limitations.
Trump’s polarizing rhetoric around “restrictive
In Chapter 1, Kaltwasser shows that the suc-
nationalism” violates democratic norms (p.
cess of populism depends on coalition-building, 119). On one hand, it is worrisome that increased
effective mastering of a severe crisis (e.g. Menem
cleavages can be further consolidated with parti-
in Argentina and Fujimori in Peru), and strict sanship and could lead to further violence. On
control of the ruling party, which are...
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