Introduction: populism and the politics of human rights

How do contemporary forms of populism in different locations generate threats to human rights? While populism in theory could enhance human rights by deepening democracy, it simultaneously harbors a logic of illiberal necessity to contain global and national elites as they are perceived to threaten the security of “the people.” As the liberal international order and liberal democracy cannot deliver social and economic citizenship, populist movements attempt to substitute cultural citizenship for the cosmopolitan international regime of legal rights. Populism poses systematic and inherent threats to due process rights, minority rights, gender equity, civil liberties, often ultimately culminating in repression of physical integrity and failures of its signature social rights. We trace the political process that translates nationalist perceptions into abusive regimes and the multiple roles of international influences. We go on to suggest local governance, coalition-building, and normative responses to populist threats.