Any government may be hard pressed to resist the appeal of some of Mr Hagen's populist ideas.

ECONOMIST: Norway

The Texas governor would doubtless gulp at some of the more populist ideas in Mr Lindsey's 1990 book.

ECONOMIST: The

All this gives Mr Forbes's ideas a populist appeal.

ECONOMIST: The Steve Forbes drum-beat

Mr Roemer shares his populist Eurosceptic and pro-welfare ideas with Mr Wilders, though his campaigning is more sophisticated.

ECONOMIST: The Dutch election

Demonising his opponent's ideas, appropriating the popular aspects of them and couching the overall policy in populist rhetoric is a coherent strategy, and one Mr Gore excels at: remember his demolition of Bill Bradley's health-care plans.

ECONOMIST: The precarious politics of prosperity