THE POWER OF POPULIST LEADERS IN TRANSITIONAL DEMOCRACIES: “DO WHAT I SAY, NOT WHAT I DO”

The definition of populism given by Nations in Transit is an ideology that claims the authority of a charismatic leader to speak for the people, pitting a mystically unified nation against corrupt "elites" and foreign enemies. It feeds on popular unhappiness and sentiments of economic, social, and political marginalization. In the Balkans, study demonstrates that populism is part of the official establishment; the local political class, or better still, caste, is inherently populist because it is a closed oligarchic structure, even though it is integrated in the system itself. It is nearly impossible to define populism. It has been described as "easier to recognize than to define" and "you know it when you see it," and it has been employed in a variety of contexts: as an ideology, pathological form, political movement, discursive style, political tactic, or just a way of understanding the world. In this paper, by examining populism in developing democracies, we hope to broaden our understanding of populism as a threat to democracy. Considering the region's general democratic losses and the rise in populist actors assuming or extending their political power. WB6 states exhibit either electoral autocracies, wherein façade elections are held, which is a more extreme form of the erosion of democratic principles, or electoral democracies devoid of liberal values like the rule of law, civic engagement, protection of human rights, and freedom of the media. There is no journalistic article without a reference to it and, apparently, mutual accusations of corruption play a central part in election campaigns. In the Balkans, a common aphorism suggests that the region has so much history that it doesn’t need a future. It is a sobering thought that every corruption offence represents a failure of some sort in a system designed to prevent corruption from occurring in the first place. Freedom House Report 2023 states that widespread impunity for corrupt government officials, including members of parliament and the judiciary, persists in Macedonia, where corruption is still a major issue and is unpunished. Perhaps it is easier to see what the rule of law is not in the case of Republic of Macedonia. The fight against impunity is a fight for human rights because the fight against impunity is a struggle for a life of dignity. Corruption is a tool used by populist politicians to mobilize people behind their cause. In this setting, populist politics are rationalized through corruption. However, the leaders then employ populist language to cover up corrupt actions that they or their allies have committed, which reduces the potency of anti-corruption measures and corruption is frequently used by populism as a justification to undermine democratic institutions and advance authoritarian policies.