Uncovering Roots of Populism

This is a timely intervention by Partha Chatterjee on the question of popular sovereignty in an era of populism and abounding authoritarianism. The book is based on the Ruth Benedict Lectures that Chatterjee delivered at Columbia University in April 2018 and as he admits candidly, is characterized by a gloomy pessimism. In characteristically Gramscian manner, Chatterjee at the very end of the book offers ‘words of optimism for the readers of this gloomy book’ (p. 152) in the form of the intellectuals’ ability to transform ideas into popular education that can become the basis of a counter-hegemonic transformation.