The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracy

Abstract

While initial research either argued that populism is good or bad for democracy, the literature converged to a more nuanced picture suggesting that populism is both corrective and threat. The central question of this literature is when and under which circumstances do populist actors unfold positive and/or negative effects. Initial analyses emphasize the role of government participation as well as populists’ political ideology. Additionally, some functions of democracy have received more attention than others. Scholars have been particularly focused on institutional changes (like mutual constraints) due to populist governance and their impact on policies in the realm of immigration. More recently, researchers started investigating the relationship between populism and political representation which is crucial to liberal democracy. Beyond the party level, this discussion has relevance for citizens’ attitudes to democracy. Do populist citizens oppose (liberal) democracy? Do they react to populists’ rhetoric? Do populist citizens feel represented by parties at all? Or is the impact of populism fueling citizens’ discontent with political representation? In this panel, we invite papers assessing the nexus of populism and (liberal) democracy. Papers may address this phenomenon on various levels, ranging from parties to citizens and in different regions.

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