Contemporary Populist Phenomena in the West

The objective of this paper is to define populism and to understand how it is changing contemporary western democracies. Different kinds of populisms have entered the scene, and this document has the purpose to identify the common denominators and differences between these ¿alternative¿ parties. This paper also analyses the political environments in which populism rises and investigates the attributes of the structures that facilitate the electoral increase. Finally, it will analyze four case studies from different countries and political systems and consider how each framed different political solutions for the problems of the respective countries. The political actors considered are Donald Trump in the U.S.A, 5 Star Movement in. Italy, Front National in France and SYRIZA in Greece. All of these have different political programs, ranging from the far-right to the far left, but non the less are considered populist phenomena. This paper will help explain why.