Definition: a thin ideology
Mudde (2004) defined populism as a thin ideology composed of the opposition between the pure people and the corrupt elite and an emphasis on popular sovereignty. Thin means that populism on its own offers no complete answers on economic or social policy, so it combines with other ideologies such as nationalism or socialism and appears as left- or right-wing populism. Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser (2017) summarized this definition in an introductory book.
Advances in measurement
The ideational definition made measurement possible. Hawkins (2009) holistically graded leaders' speeches to compare the degree of populist discourse across countries. Akkerman and colleagues (2014) built a scale of voters' populist attitudes using items on people–elite antagonism and popular sovereignty, showing that it predicts support for populist parties. Concepts such as status threat have since been studied as further explanations of populist support.
Alternatives and critiques
Laclau (2005) treated populism as a discursive logic that links diverse demands under the name of the people, focusing on political construction rather than ideology. Müller (2016) saw anti-pluralism, the claim to be the only true representative of the people, as populism's core and stressed its tension with liberal democracy. Rooduijn (2019) noted that the concept is used too broadly and proposed refocusing research.
FAQ
- What is the ideational approach to populism in simple terms?
- It defines populism as the idea that society is split into good ordinary people and a bad elite, and that politics should simply follow the people's will.
- Why is it called a thin ideology?
- Because populism alone does not set a specific policy direction, so it combines with ideologies like nationalism or socialism and appears in left or right forms.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Mudde, C. (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 541–563. The thin-ideology definition of populism.
- Laclau, E. (2005). On populist reason. Verso. The discursive alternative.
- Hawkins, K. A. (2009). Is Chávez populist? Measuring populist discourse in comparative perspective. Comparative Political Studies, 42(8), 1040–1067. Measuring populist discourse in speeches.
- Akkerman, A., Mudde, C., & Zaslove, A. (2014). How populist are the people? Measuring populist attitudes in voters. Comparative Political Studies, 47(9), 1324–1353. Measures populist attitudes among voters.
- Müller, J.-W. (2016). What is populism? University of Pennsylvania Press. Anti-pluralism as populism's core.
- Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Concise introduction to the ideational approach.
- Rooduijn, M. (2019). State of the field: How to study populism and adjacent topics? A plea for both more and less focus. European Journal of Political Research, 58(1), 362–372. State of the field review.