"We," the "people," against "those up there"? Few topics are currently as controversially discussed as populism. Some warn of its dangers to liberal democracy, while others see it as a consistent expression of democratic popular sovereignty. Research on populism has been conducted in the social sciences for decades: in sociology and political theory, in social psychology, and in cultural studies. This volume brings together key texts from this discussion, including works by Antonio Gramsci, Isaiah Berlin, Chantal Mouffe, Stuart Hall, Ernesto Laclau, Ralf Dahrendorf, Jan-Werner Müller, Cas Mudde, and Karin Priester, and offers a comprehensive introduction to the state of research on this highly relevant debate.