Populism in the Age of Integral Reality: A Case Study of Volodymyr Zelensky

This entry discusses the populist project of the former comedian and the current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It is argued that Zelensky’s integral populism was forged on the fringes of the real and the virtual, where the line between performer and politician blurred. The entry shows that Zelensky’s political success cannot be explained without accounting for his play “through the interface” that separates “the virtual” and “the real,” as the digital materiality of the series “Servant of the People” participated in discursive struggles characterizing the Ukrainian political field.