Populism, the Democratic Question, and Contemporary Governance

Abstract

There is now a substantial body of research on populism which focuses, in particular, on what motivates people to support successful national-populist parties, such as ‘Verdrossenheit’ (frustration) with established parties (Schedler 1996), reactions against the success of ‘left-libertarian’ movements (Kitschelt and McGann 1995), or the concern of the losers in the modernisation process triggered by internationalisation (Kriesi 1999), and the fears of those negatively affected by post-industrial forms of social organisation (Ignazi 1999). In contrast to these important empirical findings, this chapter is guided by more theoretical and conjectural considerations. As it is reductionist to consider populism as either a pathology of, or a threat to, democracy, I shall focus on the ambivalent link between populism and democracy, which in turn requires a certain familiarity with major debates taking place in democratic theory. In this analysis I will attempt to formulate new hypotheses as to the origins of populist successes, and possible links with the transformations taking place in democratic decision-making, which in turn requires an understanding of the lessons of policy analysis.