The role of experts in populist politics: an overview

The ‘expert’ often functions as an anti-populist stereotype. By virtue of their expertise and privileged access to knowledge invested in the impartial expert, the expert has the power to debunk the masquerade of populist politics and restore faith to liberal democracy, or so we are led to believe. But are experts really the neutral figure that will save liberal democracy from the populist demagogue? To answer this, we must discuss and understand what ‘makes’ an expert. Is the expert, in fact, nothing more than the opposite of the populist? The appeal to ‘the people’ can include claims against the ‘political correctness’ of the political discourse, which are used to demonstrate that the populist ‘really knows’ or ‘dares to say’ what people really are thinking. Populist rhetoric often refutes expert knowledge and champions ‘common sense’, just as it pits a glorified ‘people’ against bureaucrats, technocrats, and intellectuals. This paper problematises the role, function and constitution of the expert from a post-foundational perspective.