Populist Nationalism in CEE: A Leader-Centered Analysis
Populist Nationalism in CEE: A Leader-Centered Analysis

Summary/Abstract: Surges of populist nationalism in Europe and the United States over the last decade made it a central subject in comparative sociology. Most explanations center on changing societal conditions that undergird these surges and focus on populist takeovers in Western societies. The causal significance of populist-nationalist demagogy and manipulation of publics by leaders tends to be downplayed. Taking a leader-centered approach and focusing on the „established” populist leaders in CEE, this article emphasizes the „autogenic” aspect of populist-nationalist leaders – their independent proclivity, especially when holding government executive power, to shape national identity and deliberately enflame discontents and divisions that fueled their rise. Society-centered explanations of populist nationalism are not wrong but need to be supplemented by analyses of these self-entrenching leaders’ actions. Consistent with how Max Weber and early elite theorists treated populist nationalism around the time of World War I, this article defines it as a distinctive leadership style that threatens democratic stability.

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