Populism and cleavage politics: Analysis proposal for times of crisis

Abstract

In recent times, the concept of populism has become an important subject of academic debate. This is due in part to use of the phenomenon to categorize a variety of political emergencies that have shaken party systems, and has been compounded by debate surrounding the definition of the term itself. With a view to achieving an understanding that not only gets right to the heart of the issue but which also considers its potential, this article suggests dialogue between cleavage theory and the procedural approach to the populist phenomenon. As such, we propose an overlapping analysis of the two theories that would provide the procedural approach with a more comprehensive framework for comparison with other types of political structure, while complimenting cleavage theory with a broader understanding of processes of rupture and hegemonic crisis.