Subsidiarity and the moral foundations of populism

Abstract

Across Europe there is growing concern about populism. In this article populism is analysed through the lens of Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundation theory. People make choices, including political choices, based on their morals. Political families also base their policies on moral foundations. The article analyses this phenomenon and identifies both the opportunities it provides for the European People’s Party (EPP) and the threats it poses. The opportunities have to do with a special feature of conservative parties: they address the entire spectrum of moral foundations while other political families specialise in one or just a few of those foundations—this is even truer of populists. This factor also forms the threat to the EPP: while others can specialise, the EPP family must stay balanced and broad. The other way to address populism is through subsidiarity—the closer people are to decisions, the less abstract they are and the less they are guided by moral foundations, and thus there is less opportunity for populism.