Populism is a hotly contested term, starting with its very existence: Is populism even a thing? Some fixate on ‘real’ versus ‘fake’ versions: Is this populist or not? Others trade nominal for ordinal accounts: How populist is this, to what extent or degree? Still others wield the term as a polemic, pejorative, radical ideal, or badge of honor. I don't care to get mired in these debates. A continuum of more and less works for me.

In short form, populism is a flexible political form known chiefly by this pliability. As a named phenomenon, it has been around since the 1890s, coming up on 150 years. Depending on who you ask, the earliest manifestations arose in Russia, France, and the US. The moniker itself originated with the US People's Party at the end of the 19th century. Since then, movements deemed populist have cropped up around the world. Their wild variation complicates any definition, all but blocking a unified theory. Latin America has been a distinctive hotbed, for instance, where populist politics and regimes flourished in ambivalent relationship with democratic impulses.

Variations on populism are not only geopolitical. In any given country or region, populist movements can emerge on the left and right, or traverse and transcend that divide. They can swing wildly across ideological positions, over time or simultaneously. Those familiar with the US might think of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street as ideologically opposed populist movements that occurred around the same time.

Ideological plasticity is one of the hallmarks of populism. Dutch political scientist Cas Mudde, one of the leading public writers on populism today, describes it as a “thin” or “thin-centered” ideology that mostly consists of a malleable notion of the people (hereafter The People) and their general will versus the elite and/ or the establishment (aka “the establishment elite,” “elite establishment,” etc.). To fill out those silhouettes with content, populism can roam far and wide. It may borrow and tweak a socialist concept of class yet not oppose capitalism. It can nuzzle up to nationalism, xenophobia, racial, ethnic, and religious supremacy yet never be quite reducible to these.

Always, the particulars are tailored to the setting from which it emerges. Make no mistake, The People's flexibility is the populist distinction. Populism invites divergent, adaptive spinoffs, and elasticity is the source of its power.