Professor Milada Vachudova introduces the concept of ethnopolulism and discusses how political party competition in some member states of the European Union has shifted to issues of identity, as a result of and to the benefit of ethno-populist parties defending “the people.” Such polarization, she argues, goes hand in hand with democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland; a somewhat different dynamic, however, is playing out in the Czech Republic, where liberal mobilization brought down the former ethno-populist incumbent. Professor Vachudova concludes by discussing the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the strategies and popularity of ethnopopulists in Europe.