thanks to the publishers and NG for the opportunity to get acquainted with this work- I enjoyed the research.
Audiobook had many issues and, in my opinion, will need re-narration, but the work itself is fascinating.
Populism is a topic that captures my interest utmost, as my homeland, Armenia, and my current residence country USA ( granted all politicians are populists) are deeply and disturbingly passing through a very brutal populism wave. It does impact the lives of millions ( not being dramatic).
And surely, I do not agree with every point the authors make, but for research and ease of explanation, I do like this book.
I hope to read a continuation and deeper dive into this topic by the authors.

David Southworth
VINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book Covering An Already Well-Tread Topic
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 31, 2023
This book by two Canadian academics is a short treatise on a well-known topic. Namely, the rise of populist politics around the world and the consequences as it relates to future democratic freedoms, political violence, and the liberal international order. Many individuals have already been written about by such people as Madeliene Albright and Anne Applebaum including Rodrigo Dueterte of the Philippines, Jair Bolsanero of Brazil, and Donald Trump in the US. (Somewhat ironically, given the tone of the book emphasizing these individuals' threat to democracy - as of January 2023, all are out of power).

This book is interesting in many ways. It does identify common characteristics across these regions while also discussing some unique aspects of each case study. However, ultimately this book leaves little that hasn't been covered elsewhere.

Theory’s behind populism and some very up to date and relevant examples of populism in the current times. What a time to be alive and understand what’s going on globally with the popular vote. Very clever indeed, narrator was easy to follow and although it took me a while to get through this book, I did re read sections because it was fascinating and I wanted to collaborate the facts. There was quite a lot of references to events, papers, facts etc and the reference credits were listed, this was a bit tedious in the audio version, but good for verification and further study. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

I made a mistake of picking the audiobook version which was probably the worst audiobook I ever listened to when it comes to editing/production. There’s a ton of endnotes in the book which I’ve seen used in other audiobooks in a way that allows you to follow along easily. Here, it’s a total chaos. Still, not a one star review as I enjoyed those portions of the content where I wasn’t lost.

This title really piqued my interest - with global politics seemingly shifting more into populist territory, I expected to hear an analysis of gains and losses made by various movements that would fall within that umbrella and a critical observation of the global interdependent events. 'Has Populism Won' was a title that was meant to be answered within the pages of the book - instead, there was a very 'beginner level' introduction to populism and the differences between various terms such as populism, nativism, authoritarian - which I thought would serve as a base for differentiation - but were followed up with generalisations and mixing of terms in ways most people would interpret as interchangeable. We followed a number of different points made by the authors, but I generally found there was a lack of direction in the book. I don't honestly think I got an answer to the titular question, nor did I feel I gained much understanding or knowledge apart from a few statistics which were interesting and worth knowing.

I found this book riddled with sweeping generalisation with a huge lack of contextualisation on a lot of the specific examples they brought up (for example, their observations on the UK and Greek politics, both of which I am extremely familiar with, were generalised and lacked any level of nuance, thrown instead at the end of an example without elaboration. I am certain this is the case with other countries' examples also, but I may be less familiar with their political systems so couldn't tell how much was oversimplified).

Also, mentioning Putin and Zelensky in the same breath as both populists and implying they are similar in a way *really* didn't sit well with me. That happened a lot, with repeating names being used to exemplify certain things but no context really given.

I listened to this in audiobook format which I do not think was the appropriate medium for this book, not because of the narrator who did an excellent job with what she was given, but reading out specific URL's and the back of the book which was essentially a bibliography, and trying to explain various graphs which were not visually in front of us was a very difficult experience for me at least.

<i>I was provided with a complimentary copy of this audiobook by ECW Press Audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily.</i>

An interesting insight into the causes leading to the rise of populism in today’s society, what they mean and why.

The information is clear and well broken down for the layman to understand the state of current politics. I would recommend for anyone that wants to learn more about populism, politics and the subjects and theories surrounding it. It is a little dry, but this is to be expected from a political non-fiction book.



The narration was good and clear, if a little stilted at times.

***Audio ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.co.uk in return for an honest review ***

I though this was a really interesting audiobook about the rise of populism. I think it is accessible and a really good starting point for understanding world politics and the current push to the right. The break down in the difference between what people perceive as being patriotic but is actually nationalism I thought was particularly interesting.

While Trump & Putin are probably what pops into your head initially, I think it was good to hear lots of examples of populism around the world and throughout history. The only downfall was the appendix being read out in full. I thought that I was only just over halfway through and had more to go and was quite disappointed that the remainder was a list of studies and references!

Fairly interesting and very updated look at the rise in populism in the world. It gives a good explanation of populism and historical examples. A good listen, though the speaking of the footnotes could make listening confusing.

This non-fiction book explains what populism actually is and how it works. The authors, in a clear and informative way, talk about different kinds of populism and masks/roles used by the leaders. They explain, for example, the difference between patriotism, nationalism and naturalism. They also analyse the current situation in many countries, where populists took charge — Russia, Trump’s USA, Hungary, Poland or Philipines. Drache and Froese wonder how did we get there and what can be the consequences.

I would recommend this book to those who would like to learn more about the current world politics, as it is informative but accessible.

The name of this book is Has Populism Won? No any fair objective citizen would have to honestly say I don’t know. When we use fancy words and hate speech to emotionally manipulate and get people on our side to only do the opposite of what we’re preaching and people still vote for them there’s something wrong with that. I know most Americans will read this review and think of Donald Trump because it soon as they said in the book the Populist leaders Love to scare people into thinking they’re losing their rights only for the leaders who are telling them this to turn around and take their rights that’s Who I thought of and they talked about the epidemic and how leaders of big countries
Politicized wearing mask and getting vaccines but populist leaders of small nations were some of the first to ask for the vaccine… Suspicious? India Brazil in America or the three biggest populist lead countries. And although it would take someone a lot smarter than me to explain it but I can tell you with an example. They love to tell the people that others are coming in to take their jobs like Trump with his immigration hate speech but yet a month after Trump was president his wife and her parents became American citizens… Suspicious? He also loved to talk bad about China and that Russia didn’t help him at all but guess who’s the top paying tenants trump towers Russians and Chinese businessman… Suspicious? That’s not to say Biden isn’t as bad as Trump because they both use the same tactics Biden is just better at hiding his. Also a few weeks ago an American Republican set an article that he wanted to warn American citizens that in October 2023 that will be a government shut down now that’s when the Democrats are projected to lose the house… Suspicious? I wish I was a lot smarter Bing could tell you these Corian sweeping schemes and hall populism is causing America to decline but since I cannot what I will say is you need to read this book whether you’re a republican or a democrat examples given and the characteristics of a populous leader will look familiar on both sides of the aisle. What we need is objective politicians not hardheaded overly emotional babies but grown men and women to sit down and discuss politely objectively intelligently for the people and not their own benefit. Read this book!!! Please keep in mind a lot of people will tell you this book is ridiculous but they have three chapters on where they got their fax from and it is pages and pages of links in newspaper articles and they go on and on so just now this book says a lot of stuff but has everything that needs to back it up I love this book and found it so very interesting I just wish I was a lot smarter and could explain it better. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.