In an increasing number of countries around the world, populist leaders, political parties and movements have gained prominence and influence, either by electoral successes on their own or by influencing other political parties and the national political discourse. While it is widely acknowledged that the media and the role of communication more broadly are key to understanding the rise and success of populist leaders, parties and movements, there is however very little research on populist political communication, at least in the English-speaking research literature.

Originating from a research project funded by the European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST), this book seeks to advance this research. It includes examinations 24 European countries, and focuses on three areas within the context of populism and populist political communication: populist actors as communicators, the media and populism and citizens and populism.

"Populism, in all its varieties, has become a force across Europe. At last, we have a collection that combines a variety of state-level analyses with an unyielding conceptual rigour. For scholars in Europe and beyond, his collection promises to nourish informed discussion of the populist challenge for years to come" --Michael Higgins, University of Strathclyde, UK

"Each chapter not only reviews the international literature, but also the native-language research on populism in the country in question, which makes this a particularly valuable source-book for the comparative study of populism" -- Hanspeter Kriesi, The European University Institute, EuropeNow

Toril Aalberg is Professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Frank Esser is Professor of International and Comparative Media Research at the University of Zurich, Switzerland Carsten Reinemann is Professor of Political Communication at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany Jesper Strömbäck is Professor of Journalism at University of Gothenburg, Sweden Claes de Vreese is Professor and Chair of Political Communication in The Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands