This handbook brings national and thematic case studies together to examine a variety of populist politics from local and comparative perspectives in the Asia Pacific. The chapters consider key and cross cutting themes such as populism and nationalism, religion, ethnicity and gender, as well as authoritarianism. They show how populist politics alters the way governments mediate state-society relations.

The essays in this volume consider:

As a systematic account of populist ideologies, strategies, leaders and trends in the Asia Pacific, this handbook is essential reading for scholars of area studies, especially in the Asia Pacific, politics and international relations, and political and social theory.