Populist but Pluralist? : Populist Attitudes and Preferences for Political Pluralism in Parliament and Government

Abstract

In the ideational approach to populism, populist politicians consider a politically pluralist parliament both as unnecessary and as an obstacle to the expression of the true people’s will in politics. It is however an open question whether citizens with high populist attitudes are just as negatively predisposed towards pluralism in parliament and coalition government: Thus far, evidence of a negative relationship between populist attitudes and preferences for pluralism in politics has been inconclusive. We asked ca 2.000 Dutch respondents – raked to be representative of the population – to draw up their ideal assembly and to select the parties that they wish to be part of coalition government. Results show that individuals who score high on the populist attitudes scale are not negatively predisposed towards the inclusion of many parties in parliament and coalition government. These results shed new light on the presumed incompatibility between populism, pluralism, and liberal democracy.