Century of Populist Demagogues

<p>The renowned historian Ivan T. Berend discusses populist demagoguery through the presentation of eighteen politicians from twelve European countries spanning World War I to the present. Berend defines demagoguery reflects on its connections with populism and examines the common features and differences in the demagogues’ programs and language. </p><p>Mussolini and Hitler the “model demagogues” are only briefly discussed as is the election of Donald Trump in the United States and its impact on Europe. The eighteen detailed portraits include two communists two fascists and several right-wing and anti-EU politicians extending across the full range of demagoguery. The author covers Béla Kun the leader of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 weaving through Codreanu and Gömbös from the 1930s on to Stahremberg and Haider in Austria and then more broadly throughout Europe from Ceaușescu Milošević Tuđjman Izetbegović Berlusconi Wilders to the two Le Pens Farage and Boris Johnson Orbán and the two Kaczyńskis. Each case includes an analysis of the time and place and is illustrated with quotations from the demagogues’ speeches. </p><p>This book is a warning about the continuing threat of populist demagogues both for their subjects and for history itself. Berend insists on the crucial importance for Europe to understand the reality behind their promises and persuasive language as imperative to impeding their success.</p>