Populism and Democracy

Abstract

‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’. This famous phrase, pronounced by President Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 Gettysburg Address, could easily be accepted by democrats and populists alike. After all, Lincoln’s formula is grand, but vague, composed of important words to be filled with equally important, but unspecified, contents. Moreover, as most authors (e.g. Canovan, 1981 and 1999; Mény and Surel, 2000 and 2002; Mudde, 2004) are fond of saying, there is an intimate connection between democracy and populism. However, there is also an inherent tension between them, which has rarely been fully analysed. The strong connection between democracy and populism is easily established since (a) both have firm and solid roots in the people and (b) both indicate the paramount importance of the people. While, of course, the definition of democracy can and must be made richer than a simple etymological reference to the ‘power of the people’, or to the even less clear ‘sovereignty of the people’, analysts and citizens alike know that where the people have no power whatsoever, there is no democracy. Lincoln’s famous phrase can thus be interpreted in a populist way, i.e. by insisting that any increase, no matter how small, in the power of the people constitutes an increase in the quality of democracy.