Pepper Culpepper Says Good Populism Can Save Democracy

We think the next ten years are going to be anti-billionaire.

Pepper Culpepper

Pepper Culpepper joins the Democracy Paradox to discuss when populism can strengthen democracy. Drawing on his Journal of Democracy article “When Populism Can Be Good” and his book with Taeku Lee, Billionaire Backlash, Culpepper argues that corporate scandals can channel public anger toward billionaires and large corporations in ways that reinforce democratic accountability. The conversation explores good and bad populism, economic unfairness, AI, regulation, and whether democratic governments can still stand up to concentrated corporate power.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• Good Populism - 3:05
• Latent Opinion - 12:33
• The Next Progressive Era - 20:42
• Regulation vs. Abundance - 35:48

Links

Learn more about Pepper Culpepper.

Learn more about his Journal of Democracy article “When Populism Can Be Good.”

Learn more about his book Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

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