The Political Psychology of Populism

This book examines the underlying social pathology of Trump and Putin’s political orientations. The assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, and Russia’s war on Ukraine in February 2022 both reveal a disturbing drift towards new forms of populism. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Sigmund Freud and Norbert Elias regarding the impulses of the masses and the social trauma triggered by the quest for lost origins, Trump and Putin’s populist policies are revealed in a new light: