Populismo e democrazia rappresentativa in Europa

The article assesses some of the most important developments in research on populism, broadly conceived as expression of populist leaders, styles, ideologies. After the first section on the interconnections between populism, liberalism and democracy, Western Europe is chosen as the appropriate context for the following comparative analysis. The main aim of the article is to critically assess the most recent conceptual and empirical researches in order to achieve sound methods for future empirical research. The focus on ‘mechanisms’ shows the extent to which research in this sector is still in its infancy. I argue that to understand the emergence of populism one needs to start from the increasing vulnerability of many European party systems. In the conclusion I also argue that the emerging literature on the quality of democracy can provide the best means to assess the impact of populism in contemporary Europe.