The Loop’s path-breaking Future of Populism series celebrates 100 contributions

In July 2022, Charles University’s Petra Guasti and Mattia Zulianello of the University of Trieste approached The Loop with a timely series proposal. Since then, Petra and Mattia’s broad-spectrum Future of Populism thread has explored the rise of populist parties worldwide – and speculated on how populist movements will develop in the years to come.

The pair's provocative foundational post debunked three commonly-held 'myths' about populism – and invited subsequent submissions to approach the subject from alternative angles.

Writers respond

Contributors have pushed back against simplistic definitions of populism, warning against conflating it with other ideologies. Many focused on the fact that populism transcends left-right divides, operating as a ‘thin’ political logic. Others analyse how the role of the media – including social media – enables populist politics; still others have explored populism’s underlying cultural or emotional drivers.

Authoritarian populism, agrarian populism, tribalist populism, nostalgic populism… even banana populism. The 🔮 series has grown to encompass a broad and diverse body of work valuable for anyone who wants a more challenging antidote to lazy ‘populism = extremism’ takes.

Now, founding editor Mattia has published this thriving series' landmark 100th instalment. His piece introduces The PopulisTree, a new taxonomy and open-access dataset that maps the full diversity of populist parties across Europe for the benefit of scholars and policymakers.

Co-curator Petra Guasti reflects on the series' achievement

 When we launched the Future of Populism series, I approached rising star Mattia because we shared the motivation to cultivate a research area plagued by myths and oversimplifications, and to build a scholarly community around it. Our aim was to make cutting-edge research on populism accessible without losing analytical rigour.

The series evolved into a collaborative intellectual network and a book, Understanding Populism (first published in Italian with UTET in 2024; English and Czech versions in preparation). The book broadened our community while keeping the series’ original promise to make high-level scholarship readable and relevant. Mattia and I remain driven by our dedication to students, whose feedback has been essential throughout this journey.

Looking ahead – 🔮 – I see the series continuing to serve as a bridge between fast-moving political realities and careful, cumulative academic reflection. 

🔮 Future of Populism: most-read

Figures captured on 5 February 2026

	Wolfgang Muno and Christian Pfeiffer Peronism in Argentina exemplifies the chamaeleonic nature of populism	4,349
	Proma Raychaudhury Narendra Modi: India's 'vulnerable' strongman populist leader	3,311
	Mattia Zulianello and Petra Guasti Three die-hard myths about populism	3,117
	Tim Bale The British Conservative Party’s journey towards the populist radical right	2,925
	Laura Jacobs Social media: populists’ partners in crime	2,799
	Armin Schäfer and Michael Zürn How to understand the rise of authoritarian populism	2,635
	Leonardo Puleo and Gianluca Piccolino Brothers of Italy is not a post or neo-fascist party, but it might pose an illiberal challenge	2,433
	Barbara Pisciotta and Daniela Verena Huber Populism and democratic backsliding: learning from Hungary and Tunisia	1,650
	Ezgi Elçi Nostalgia and populism	1,627
	Jamie Gillies Vincent Raynauld and Angela Wisniewski The rising tide of populism in Canada since the Freedom Convoy	1,600