How populists governed the COVID-19 pandemic: populist governance and social policies in Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Turkey

Panizza, Francisco ORCID: 0000-0002-3755-9209, Szirka, Dorottya, Öktem, Kerem Gabriel, Györy, Adrienn and Sazo Munoz, Diego ORCID: 0000-0002-8926-3805 (2025) How populists governed the COVID-19 pandemic: populist governance and social policies in Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Turkey. Government and Opposition. ISSN 0017-257X

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Abstract

How did populist governments handle the COVID-19 pandemic? Did they act as erratic, irrational and unsound – in short: ‘populist’ – as observers expected them to do? Through which social policies did they respond to the hardships caused by the pandemic? And, what does populist governance explain about these governments’ social policies? This article explores these questions through a comparative analysis of a diverse set of six populist governments. We first conceptualize, operationalize and measure populist governance by constructing a novel Populist Governance Index. Second, we describe and measure governments’ welfare policies through a novel Social Policy Response Index. Third, we relate social policy responses to variations in populist governance across countries. Our mixed-method study suggests that populism explains the politics rather than the policies of populist governments.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2025 10:45
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2025 17:23
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129299

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