On the Relationship Between Democracy and Populism

This chapter aims to provide tools to map the extensive discussion about the relationship between populism and democracy. It points both to the contestation of the two concepts and the need for political scientists to settle their meaning. Without doing so, the chapter proposes, they relinquish the ability to say anything about whether the relationship between populism and democracy is conflictual, and whether reactions to populism entail defense of democracy. The chapter argues that conceptions of populism and democracy plausibly conflict in three ways: how politics is practiced between citizens and parties; how political institutions should be structured; and, in relation to rights distributing policies. It outlines how the three conflicts are interrelated, not least with regard to the justification of policies and the fundamental nature of political institutions.