The article deals with the authorʼs intentions to find an objective base for a more precise definition of “populism”, a notion which has become highly popular in modern political discourse. The incorrect usage of this notion is connected with political interests of different parties, persons or groups of people, usually not interested in finding its essence and proper characteristics. The author suggests his own conception of its use, thinking that applying it in an apriori way should not further on be permitted. He speaks about the genesis of this notion and details of its evolution with respect to some historic figures and ideologies and tries to “test” his renovated version of populism on some prominent figures of Latin American history of the XX—XXI centuries, such as Getulio Vargas, Juan Domingo Perón, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Hugo Chávez and Dilma Rousseff. In this article the author tries to follow some modern tendencies in the development of this notion in the context of the scientific progress of today. On the one hand he marks the dissemination of the new generation of “anti-corruption” type of populists, on the other he thinks that the revolution in information puts forward new demands, such as professionalism and competence, which may limit the copious usage of “traditional” populist phraseology.