There are different definitions of populism. But, a working definition of populism is: representation of the unified will of the people. Likewise, there are several different forms of democracy, but generally, democracy is characterized by majority consensus. Populism is on the rise in the United States and Europe because the extreme distance between liberal and conservative politics ignores the people in the middle with measured, moderate views. Populism is growing because the number of people who cannot associate with the extremes of liberal and conservative is growing. Populism is a reaction to the all-or-nothing policies of the liberals and conservatives. Often, liberals criticize populist political policy as being too conservative and ignoring the rights of minorities. On the other hand so too are populists criticized by the hard right. Conservatives argue that populism does not take a hard enough stance against things like the liberal agenda that infringes upon Second Amendment rights and boarder control. So, it is easy to see how populism is somewhere in the middle between liberals and conservatives. And, both liberals and conservatives believe that populism is potentially a threat to democracy.
Populism is a threat to democracy because, by today’s definition of the political principal, populism is more leadership and less participation. Because the democratic system in the United States has become a convoluted bureaucracy, people are less interested in politics than ever before. Rather than having to decipher the ways and means of a system that has become bloated with convolution, people would prefer electing representatives that can navigate the system for them. People want their elected officials to be experts in bureaucracy while, at the same time, keep their best interests at heart. In addition to the fact that democracy is vulnerable to populism because people are no longer interested in understanding how the system works, there are no checks or balances to prevent populism from taking over. If populist elected officials want to enact populist policy for their populist supporters, there is nothing within the democratic system to prevent them from doing so.
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"Populism is Democracy, Not a Threat to It".
However, the fact that the democratic system does not inherently contain measures to prevent populist policies from taking a stranglehold on policy does not necessarily mean that populism is a threat to democracy. Populist political policies are not, fundamentally, opposed to democracy. While populist politics call for stronger leadership, that does not mean populists support more government control or less individual rights. In fact, populism thrives the most in a representative democracy. As such, populist politics expand the most freely in a democracy. It would be against their own best interests for populists to renounce democracy because that would be against the will of the people.
Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is a challenge for democracy. Populism is a moderate political principal that represents the will of the people. While both more liberal and more conservative politics do not like the moderate nature of populism, neither should consider it a threat to the current democratic system. While populism does not cater to the notions of social idealism nor radical individualism, it is not a political principal that encourages people to consider re-thinking the value of a democratic system of government. And, considering the current political climate, the inability for liberals and conservatives to find common ground, populist policy will likely gain more supporters. As more and more people become excluded from the far right and far left, populism will grow even more popular as people attempt to find representatives with whom they have common interests.
