Introduction

Abstract

This chapter describes the book’s general approach to authoritarian populism, which is regarded as a two-pronged phenomenon. On the one hand, it consists of leaders who are elected on simplistic, nationalistic electoral platforms who pursue illiberal and authoritarian policies once they achieve office. On the other hand, it also involves a mind-set among mass publics that embraces resentment of immigrants and immigration, cynicism about human rights, support for robust foreign policies, ideological sympathy for the market and rolling back the state and, in Europe, opposition to the European Union. The chapter further outlines the three main sections of the book: the first analysing populist movements across a number of advanced liberal democracies; the second addressing how liberal democracies should respond to the authoritarian populist challenge; and the third reviewing Anthony King’s contribution to the study of liberal democracy.