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A composite theory of populism needs to answer three key questions: What causes populism to emerge? How do populists rule once in power? And how can populism be defeated? Perhaps the best country case we have available for the empirical study of, and theoretical insights about, populism is that of Greece, which in recent decades has undergone the full populist experience from rise to fall. The story of Greece’s experience with illiberal-democratic politics, and of how populism was eventually defeated at the polls, holds new lessons for countries around the world that are grappling with these forces.