Righteous Demagogues Populist Politics in South Asia and Beyond

Righteous Demagogues explores the causes, dynamics, and consequences of populist politics in South Asia and beyond. It argues that populist mobilizations are rooted in crises of representation, and populism is a symptom not an underlying cause of democratic malaise. Populist leaders, in framing their appeals, evoke the moral contract--that states are obligated to redress certain types of inequality--and promise its restoration, in ways that resonate with voters across lines of partisanship and social divisions, leading party system change. Depending on how broadly populist appeals resonate, different types of populism emerge, with consequences ranging from the rejection of populists to varying forms of democratic backsliding.

The book examines the dynamics of populist politics primarily through four cases in South Asia. In the late 1960s, Indira Gandhi in India and Zulfiqar Bhutto in Pakistan effected reordering populist mobilizations on the left, against the de facto oligarchic regimes of the Congress party and the Ayub Khan government, mobilizing workers, peasants, and the nascent middle classes against widespread exclusion and inequity. In the mid-2010s, Narendra Modi and Imran Khan effected additive populist mobilizations of the right, mobilizing diverse middle classes across India and Pakistan respectively against perceived corruption and inequity. The book applies the framework and typology to explain the causes, dynamics, and consequences of populism in Latin America, Europe and the United States.

Adnan Naseemullah studies comparative politics, South Asian politics and political economy. His recent research has focused on the political economy of national development in the context of global integration and the causes and consequences of uneven state formation under colonial rule and post-colonial governance. He received a BA at Swarthmore College and an MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He has previously taught at the London School of Economics and the Johns Hopkins University, and is currently Reader in International Politics at King's College London.

Pradeep Chhibber studies the politics of India, political parties and party systems. His recent research is on the influence of ideology on party system change, religion and politics, elections and parties, and the politics of development in India. He received an MA and an MPhil from the University of Delhi and a PhD from UCLA. He has previously taught at the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, and he is currently Professor of Political Science and the Indo-American Community Chair in India Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.