A Threat and A Corrective for Democracy: An Introduction to Populism in the Past and Present

Abstract

With the increasing interdependence between states, populism also rises through opposing current institutions, which gradually becomes a political force in some regions nowadays. However, there is no accepted academic definition of populism. Therefore, this essay lists three major approaches for scholars to define populism, the sociocultural approach, the political-strategic approach, the ideational approach, and makes some critical comments on them. After the evaluations, the reasons why the ideational approach is the most probable method to illustrate populism can be explained. By analyzing the mobilization of populism in different regions, the core features of populists can be reflected and the demands of populists can update with time advance. On the aspect of political effect, this article studies its influence on democratic institutions and policy-making, which show both positive and negative sides under different circumstances. In summary, populism is a special kind of ideology related to the people and the elite that can attach to other ideologies. Besides, populism can remind the rulers to solve some problems when they are in opposition, nevertheless, populism can also be a threat to democracy when they thoroughly control a regime.