Who is populist in Central and Eastern Europe? A comparative analysis of prime ministers' populist discourse

Abstract

This article measures populist discourse among prime ministers in new Central and Eastern European democracies using holistic grading as a specific type of textual analysis. The article first offers a definition of populism and then measures political discourse by grading political speeches of contemporary prime ministers in Central and Eastern Europe. Next, it presents descriptive data about prime ministers’ political discourse and discusses positive cases of populism in reference to democratic structures. Despite suggestions that we live in a populist zeitgeist, populism is a rare and occasional phenomenon in Central and Eastern European executive politics. It has often been associated with violations of democratic structure by individual leaders. However, these violations are more likely to be related to undemocratic political culture in general than to populism in particular. Where populism does coincide with an already undemocratic political mindset, this represents a more serious threat to democratic standards.