"The recent resurgence of populist movements and parties has led to a revival of scholarly interest in populism. This volume brings together well-established and new scholars to reassess the subject and combine historical and theoretical perspectives to shed new light on the history of the subject, as well as enriching contemporary discussions. In three parts, the contributors explore the history of populism in different regions, theories of populism and recent populist movements. Taken together, the contributions included in this book represent the most comprehensive and wide-ranging study of the topic to date. Questions addressed include: - What are the 'essential' characteristics of populism? - Is it important to distinguish between left- and right-wing populism? - How can the transformation of populist movements be explained? This is the most thorough and up to date comparative historical study of populism available. As such it will be of great value to anyone researching or studying the topic. This volume focuses primarily on a comparative historical study of populism in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. It contains four historical sections (each with at least three essays) that address the following topics: whether and how the concept of populism is useful in explaining the rise of National Socialism in Germany; the development of populism in the Balkans from the late nineteenth century to the present; transformations of populism in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth century; and the history of populism in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and the circum-Caribbean from 1920 to 1960. There are two theoretical essays that address the content, function and historical transformations of populist producerist ideology in Western Europe and the United States from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. The final section examines more recent developments in populist movements, parties, governments and ideology in Europe, th.